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11 Expert Tips for Conducting Better Market Research

Market research is so important that it can mean the difference between success and disaster for a business.

Today’s market, especially with the added challenges of COVID-19, is more volatile than ever. What may have been a “tried and true” method that worked five years ago probably isn’t seeing the same success today.

In addition to analyzing past and current trends, market researchers face the difficult task of finding ways to improve, use forecasts to predict how the market is going to shift, and determine what a business can do to stay one step ahead of the changes.

Some business owners hire professional market researchers to conduct this deep-level analysis. But for small operations, that option isn’t always in the budget.

We’ll break down our top tips to help you improve market research for your business, whether you’re conducting the research yourself in-house or outsourcing it to a third-party professional.

11 Ways to Improve Market Research Skills and Methods for Your Business

Businesses rely on a variety of market research methods. The most common types of market research are surveys, customer observations, focus groups, and interviews, but that’s not an all-inclusive list.

Market research can also include studying website traffic, social media interactions, studies published within a particular industry, field trials, and other means of collecting and analyzing information.

Here are some ways to improve market research:

1. Identify New Opportunities and Needs

One thing is certain about the market – it’s always changing. This state of constant evolution means a market researcher needs to use their analytical skills to study:

• Current trends
• Demographics
• Market size
• Market shares
• Trend forecasts
• Industry suppliers
• Geographic distribution
• Key competitors
• Market gaps, needs, and demands

Collecting this information and pinpointing potential areas of improvement is a critical first step in understanding the existing market and finding opportunities for business strategies, advertising, and products.

2. Understand Your Customers

In order to accurately target the customers in your market niche, you need to know who your customers are. This type of research can be conducted through focus groups, questionnaires, surveys, interviews, and analytical data collected from online interactions with your brand.

It’s important to create a customer profile that not only identifies demographics such as age, income, and interests, but also identifies needs that aren’t being met and how your audience may have changed over time.

3. Conduct Brand Research

There’s a surprising disconnect between how most companies perceive their brand and how their customers perceive it. Even the colors you choose can impact brand recognition by as much as 80% , which means seemingly minor details likely have a bigger impact than business owners realize.

This is where thorough brand research can help businesses improve their overall branding and shed light on:

• How familiar customers are with a brand
• The memorability of a logo and company name
• How customers view a brand in comparison to competitors
• What kind of reputation customers and potential customers think a brand has
• Overall brand perception and awareness in the marketplace
• How customers feel about a brand’s website, social media presence, ads, content, etc.

4. Collect and Analyze Data

Collecting data is a major part of the process, but even more important is being able to analyze that data and determine trends and changes that are currently or may soon impact your business.

Data collection and analysis needs to be a continuous process happening at every phase. Even if you did diligent research prior to launching your latest product, you then need to follow up after the launch and continue to gather customer feedback and market data.

Also, strive to measure the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns with analysis that will drive future campaigns.

5. Don’t Make Assumptions

One of the most dangerous pitfalls a market researcher can fall into is allowing assumptions to enter the equation. It’s easy to notice patterns and make automatic assumptions without diving deeper to explore why certain trends are happening.

That’s a recipe for disaster. Decisions should be made based on the numbers, studies, feedback, and trends – not unverified assumptions.

6. Apply Personalized Problem-Solving Techniques per Project

Every project should be handled individually. There is no blanket, one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to problem solving for different aspects of the market.

If you’re sending out surveys as the primary means of collecting data for your market research, take the time to consider your goal each time. Don’t create an all-in-one survey and send it out to everybody.

Instead, tailor your questions and send them to targeted people. Customers participating in your brand awareness survey should not be getting a carbon copy of your customer satisfaction survey, nor should both groups be receiving one survey that covers questions from both topics.

Taking an individualized problem-solving approach on a project-by-project basis will improve the accuracy of your market research.

7. Improve Communication Skills

In order to gather the most useful data, participants need to have a clear understanding of the questions they’re being asked.

Verbal and written communication skills need to be strong in order to clearly and accurately convey information and create well-documented reports.

8. Gather Product Feature Insights

Whether you’re launching a new product or making updates to an existing one, product feature research should be a part of your overall market research – ideally before you commit to the expenses of large-scale production costs and advertising.

Consumer feedback on concepts and, when possible, prototypes can reveal design flaws, packaging issues, and other problems that will save you a lot of time and money if you can address these issues before the official launch.

Qualitative research such as focus groups, interviews, and open-ended survey questions is best to gather insights you may not have expected from your beta testers.

9. Be Transparent

Market research usually involves interacting with participants in some capacity, whether that’s in-person interviews, virtual focus groups, telephone surveys, digital questionnaires, etc.

Participants need to have a clear understanding of exactly how you intend to use their information. Be open and honest upfront. Failing to do so can have serious repercussions later and may skew your data if participants are uneasy about giving their true opinions.

10. Incentivize Participants

When you’re looking for ways to improve market research, consider what’s motivating the respondents who are providing you with data. Are they being compensated with discounts or prize drawings? Will they be allowed to test a new product prototype?

Remember that just as your time is valuable, so is the time of the people providing you with data. Consider your audience and the best ways you could incentivize them for maximum participation. Incentives designed for B2C surveys are probably not going to be as effective for B2B, and vice versa.

11. Keep Your Surveys, Questionnaires, and Interviews Short and Simple

We already mentioned the importance of communication when it comes to improving market research. In addition to clearly communicating your needs and expectations, make sure you’re keeping the process simple.

Questions should not be complicated and confusing, and your survey shouldn’t take too long to complete. Studies have shown that the response rate drops by 15% if a survey takes more than 5 minutes to finish, with a 40% drop rate past 10 minutes.

Market research is important, but if you need to gather a lot of data, try to break it up into smaller, more manageable sessions so the participants helping you don’t feel overwhelmed.

Improve the Validity of Market Research for Business Success

Market research goes much deeper than simply sending out a survey and generating a report of the responses.

When done in a thorough and meticulous manner, market research can (and should) bring in a ton of data that needs to be analyzed and compiled into written and visual reports capable of showing trends, demographics, and opportunities.

It’s an important part of the business process, and it starts with asking the right questions. Gathering a lot of data is good if it’s the right data. Otherwise, you’re not helping your business make the best strategic decisions for a successful future.

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How to do market research: The complete guide for your brand

Written by by Jacqueline Zote

Published on  April 13, 2023

Reading time  10 minutes

Blindly putting out content or products and hoping for the best is a thing of the past. Not only is it a waste of time and energy, but you’re wasting valuable marketing dollars in the process. Now you have a wealth of tools and data at your disposal, allowing you to develop data-driven marketing strategies . That’s where market research comes in, allowing you to uncover valuable insights to inform your business decisions.

Conducting market research not only helps you better understand how to sell to customers but also stand out from your competition. In this guide, we break down everything you need to know about market research and how doing your homework can help you grow your business.

Table of contents:

What is market research?

Why is market research important, types of market research, where to conduct market research.

• Steps for conducting market research
• Tools to use for market research

Market research is the process of gathering information surrounding your business opportunities. It identifies key information to better understand your audience. This includes insights related to customer personas and even trends shaping your industry.

Taking time out of your schedule to conduct research is crucial for your brand health. Here are some of the key benefits of market research:

Understand your customers’ motivations and pain points

Most marketers are out of touch with what their customers want. Moreover, these marketers are missing key information on what products their audience wants to buy.

Simply put, you can’t run a business if you don’t know what motivates your customers.

And spoiler alert: Your customers’ wants and needs change. Your customers’ behaviors today might be night and day from what they were a few years ago.

Market research holds the key to understanding your customers better. It helps you uncover their key pain points and motivations and understand how they shape their interests and behavior.

Figure out how to position your brand

Positioning is becoming increasingly important as more and more brands enter the marketplace. Market research enables you to spot opportunities to define yourself against your competitors.

Maybe you’re able to emphasize a lower price point. Perhaps your product has a feature that’s one of a kind. Finding those opportunities goes hand in hand with researching your market.

Maintain a strong pulse on your industry at large

Today’s marketing world evolves at a rate that’s difficult to keep up with.

Fresh products. Up-and-coming brands. New marketing tools. Consumers get bombarded with sales messages from all angles. This can be confusing and overwhelming.

By monitoring market trends, you can figure out the best tactics for reaching your target audience.

Not everyone conducts market research for the same reason. While some may want to understand their audience better, others may want to see how their competitors are doing. As such, there are different types of market research you can conduct depending on your goal.

Interview-based market research allows for one-on-one interactions. This helps the conversation to flow naturally, making it easier to add context. Whether this takes place in person or virtually, it enables you to gather more in-depth qualitative data.

Buyer persona research

Buyer persona research lets you take a closer look at the people who make up your target audience. You can discover the needs, challenges and pain points of each buyer persona to understand what they need from your business. This will then allow you to craft products or campaigns to resonate better with each persona.

Pricing research

In this type of research, brands compare similar products or services with a particular focus on pricing. They look at how much those products or services typically sell for so they can get more competitive with their pricing strategy.

Competitive analysis research

Competitor analysis gives you a realistic understanding of where you stand in the market and how your competitors are doing. You can use this analysis to find out what’s working in your industry and which competitors to watch out for. It even gives you an idea of how well those competitors are meeting consumer needs.

Depending on the competitor analysis tool you use, you can get as granular as you need with your research. For instance, Sprout Social lets you analyze your competitors’ social strategies. You can see what types of content they’re posting and even benchmark your growth against theirs.

Brand awareness research

Conducting brand awareness research allows you to assess your brand’s standing in the market. It tells you how well-known your brand is among your target audience and what they associate with it. This can help you gauge people’s sentiments toward your brand and whether you need to rebrand or reposition.

If you don’t know where to start with your research, you’re in the right place.

There’s no shortage of market research methods out there. In this section, we’ve highlighted research channels for small and big businesses alike.

Considering that Google sees a staggering 8.5 billion searches each day, there’s perhaps no better place to start.

A quick Google search is a potential goldmine for all sorts of questions to kick off your market research. Who’s ranking for keywords related to your industry? Which products and pieces of content are the hottest right now? Who’s running ads related to your business?

For example, Google Product Listing Ads can help highlight all of the above for B2C brands.

The same applies to B2B brands looking to keep tabs on who’s running industry-related ads and ranking for keyword terms too.

There’s no denying that email represents both an aggressive and effective marketing channel for marketers today. Case in point, 44% of online shoppers consider email as the most influential channel in their buying decisions.

Looking through industry and competitor emails is a brilliant way to learn more about your market. For example, what types of offers and deals are your competitors running? How often are they sending emails?

Email is also invaluable for gathering information directly from your customers. This survey message from Asana is a great example of how to pick your customers’ brains to figure out how you can improve your quality of service.

Industry journals, reports and blogs

Don’t neglect the importance of big-picture market research when it comes to tactics and marketing channels to explore. Look to marketing resources such as reports and blogs as well as industry journals

Keeping your ear to the ground on new trends and technologies is a smart move for any business. Sites such as Statista, Marketing Charts, AdWeek and Emarketer are treasure troves of up-to-date data and news for marketers.

And of course, there’s the  Sprout Insights blog . And invaluable resources like The Sprout Social Index™  can keep you updated on the latest social trends.

Social media

If you want to learn more about your target market, look no further than social media. Social offers a place to discover what your customers want to see in future products or which brands are killin’ it. In fact, social media is become more important for businesses than ever with the level of data available.

It represents a massive repository of real-time data and insights that are instantly accessible. Brand monitoring and social listening are effective ways to conduct social media research . You can even be more direct with your approach. Ask questions directly or even poll your audience to understand their needs and preferences.

The 5 steps for how to do market research

Now that we’ve covered the why and where, it’s time to get into the practical aspects of market research. Here are five essential steps on how to do market research effectively.

Step 1: Identify your research topic

First off, what are you researching about? What do you want to find out? Narrow down on a specific research topic so you can start with a clear idea of what to look for.

For example, you may want to learn more about how well your product features are satisfying the needs of existing users. This might potentially lead to feature updates and improvements. Or it might even result in new feature introductions.

Similarly, your research topic may be related to your product or service launch or customer experience. Or you may want to conduct research for an upcoming marketing campaign.

Step 2: Choose a buyer persona to engage

If you’re planning to focus your research on a specific type of audience, decide which buyer persona you want to engage. This persona group will serve as a representative sample of your target audience.

Engaging a specific group of audience lets you streamline your research efforts. As such, it can be a much more effective and organized approach than researching thousands (if not millions) of individuals.

You may be directing your research toward existing users of your product. To get even more granular, you may want to focus on users who have been familiar with the product for at least a year, for example.

Step 3: Start collecting data

The next step is one of the most critical as it involves collecting the data you need for your research. Before you begin, make sure you’ve chosen the right research methods that will uncover the type of data you need. This largely depends on your research topic and goals.

Remember that you don’t necessarily have to stick to one research method. You may use a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches. So for example, you could use interviews to supplement the data from your surveys. Or you may stick to insights from your social listening efforts.

To keep things consistent, let’s look at this in the context of the example from earlier. Perhaps you can send out a survey to your existing users asking them a bunch of questions. This might include questions like which features they use the most and how often they use them. You can get them to choose an answer from one to five and collect quantitative data.

Plus, for qualitative insights, you could even include a few open-ended questions with the option to write their answers. For instance, you might ask them if there’s any improvement they wish to see in your product.

Step 4: Analyze results

Once you have all the data you need, it’s time to analyze it keeping your research topic in mind. This involves trying to interpret the data to look for a wider meaning, particularly in relation to your research goal.

So let’s say a large percentage of responses were four or five in the satisfaction rating. This means your existing users are mostly satisfied with your current product features. On the other hand, if the responses were mostly ones and twos, you may look for opportunities to improve. The responses to your open-ended questions can give you further context as to why people are disappointed.

Step 5: Make decisions for your business

Now it’s time to take your findings and turn them into actionable insights for your business. In this final step, you need to decide how you want to move forward with your new market insight.

What did you find in your research that would require action? How can you put those findings to good use?

The market research tools you should be using

To wrap things up, let’s talk about the various tools available to conduct speedy, in-depth market research. These tools are essential for conducting market research faster and more efficiently.

Social listening and analytics

Social analytics tools like Sprout can help you keep track of engagement across social media. This goes beyond your own engagement data but also includes that of your competitors. Considering how quickly social media moves, using a third-party analytics tool is ideal. It allows you to make sense of your social data at a glance and ensure that you’re never missing out on important trends.

Email marketing research tools

Keeping track of brand emails is a good idea for any brand looking to stand out in its audience’s inbox.

Tools such as MailCharts ,  Really Good Emails  and  Milled  can show you how different brands run their email campaigns.

Meanwhile, tools like  Owletter  allow you to monitor metrics such as frequency and send-timing. These metrics can help you understand email marketing strategies among competing brands.

Content marketing research

If you’re looking to conduct research on content marketing, tools such as  BuzzSumo  can be of great help. This tool shows you the top-performing industry content based on keywords. Here you can see relevant industry sites and influencers as well as which brands in your industry are scoring the most buzz. It shows you exactly which pieces of content are ranking well in terms of engagements and shares and on which social networks.

SEO and keyword tracking

Monitoring industry keywords is a great way to uncover competitors. It can also help you discover opportunities to advertise your products via organic search. Tools such as  Ahrefs  provide a comprehensive keyword report to help you see how your search efforts stack up against the competition.

Competitor comparison template

For the sake of organizing your market research, consider creating a competitive matrix. The idea is to highlight how you stack up side-by-side against others in your market. Use a  social media competitive analysis template  to track your competitors’ social presence. That way, you can easily compare tactics, messaging and performance. Once you understand your strengths and weaknesses next to your competitors, you’ll find opportunities as well.

Customer persona creator

Finally, customer personas represent a place where all of your market research comes together. You’d need to create a profile of your ideal customer that you can easily refer to. Tools like  Xtensio  can help in outlining your customer motivations and demographics as you zero in on your target market.

Build a solid market research strategy

Having a deeper understanding of the market gives you leverage in a sea of competitors. Use the steps and market research tools we shared above to build an effective market research strategy.

But keep in mind that the accuracy of your research findings depends on the quality of data collected. Turn to Sprout’s social media analytics tools to uncover heaps of high-quality data across social networks.

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Top market research analyst skills for 2024

Market research is a rapidly evolving space. Artificial intelligence is completely reshaping what’s possible, by who and the skills researchers need to bring the most value to their work and themselves. With the help of findings from the 2024 Qualtrics Research Trends report, here we look at the major trends in a changing landscape, and the skills that are most in demand.

The market research landscape in 2024

In a growth-obsessed business world, good market research is the key to responding fastest, creating a competitive advantage and converting potential into success.

And today, fueled by artificial intelligence (AI), the world of market research is evolving at an unprecedented rate.

It’s no surprise that, according to the latest Qualtrics Research Trends report , the value of good research is higher than it has ever been. It’s equally unsurprising that investment in market research is very much on the rise.

Every year, we ask thousands of researchers from across the globe about their experiences to understand how the market is shifting and create the annual Qualtrics Research Trends report. Here are the four main trends we discovered for 2024.

1. Succeeding in the AI revolution is paramount

As sophisticated AI has become an accessible, everyday tool for workers and businesses, its application to market research – generating rich insights from mountains of qualitative and quantitative data in the blink of an eye – has become abundantly clear.

AI has lept from a helpful tool to an integral component of market research, and it’s reshaping the research landscape.

We’re seeing it used to analyze multi-source (qualitative and quantitative) research to generate insights, transform raw findings into marketing strategies, and drive new efficiencies through AI-driven survey reviews that are preventing data-damaging question types or structures.

Our research found that 47% of researchers globally are already using AI in their day-to-day work, and 92% are confident that they understand how to apply AI to research activities. Despite the ‘AI will steal your job’ narrative persisting, most researchers (87%) feel overwhelmingly strong about their job security.

Market research is ripe for AI innovation; it’s an ideal starting point for companies to see what AI-fueled innovation looks like. The race is now focused on how to leverage AI tools to generate the best results.

2. Digital qual is taking over

Digital qualitative research has fast become a popular route for researchers searching for deeper, more nuanced feedback from more people in a cost-effective way. In fact, 87% of researchers say that most or an equal amount of their qualitative research is currently conducted remotely or online vs. in-person.

But how did we get here? There are two key trends that have driven this transition.

On one hand, conducting comprehensive research via traditional methods, like in-person focus groups and large-scale surveys, has become a pain point for market research analysts – it can be slow, labor-intensive and expensive. On the other is the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced researchers to adopt digital-first approaches out of necessity – and saw consumers accept digital interactions as standard enmasse.

As digital qualitative technology evolves at a rapid pace, market research teams are retooling and restructuring to embrace both in-person and online research methods as the demand to collect data in a contactless, remote way grows.

Our research shows that cost effectiveness is the primary benefit of digital qual, but there are many more: increased geographical diversity, faster time to insights, increased accessibility and better reach of target audience are the other key drivers.

3. Data quality is becoming even more important

Behind every good decision lies good quality data – this has always been clear, but as consumers and technology evolve, it has become increasingly difficult to capture.

AI’s impact on market research is immense but it’s not necessarily all positive: it’s no coincidence that rising issues with quality data have coincided with the rise of generative technology like ChatGPT. 43% of respondents in the 2024 Qualtrics Research Trends report say identifying and/or preventing AI-generated responses is a challenge when collecting data using online providers.

But there’s a flip side to this issue, and AI is of course at the center of it once again. While data quality is at risk from AI, it can also be maintained and improved by it. AI can be used to automatically flag issues, like respondents who completed surveys too quickly or open-ended questions that contain nonsensical answers, and intelligently comb through thousands of data points far more efficiently and effectively than a data analyst can.

However they get there, the organizations that prioritize a relentless pursuit of data excellence will be best prepared to make strategic, data-driven decisions.

4. The skills gap is widening

While we’re definitely seeing market researchers adopt AI and learn new AI-focused skills, the pace at which they’re developing these skills is lagging behind the speed at which the technology itself is evolving. According to our data, a third of researchers globally say they outsource projects because their teams don’t have the research skills to manage them internally.

Although AI appears to be widening the skills gap, yet again it can also be the solution to it. Skills development can’t come without the capacity to learn, and AI-powered automation can take on repetitive manual tasks better than ever before – freeing up valuable time for upskilling.

Free eBook: 2024 research trends report

5 market research skills organizations are prioritizing in 2024

The research industry is in a state of significant change. We’re seeing a rapid adoption of new technologies, which is in turn reshaping the skills required for success.

But while new skills are highly valuable, it’s important to not neglect the timeless skills that will be sought after in current and future market research analysts.

As we delve into the top five research skills organizations are prioritizing in 2024, we recommend that you complete a quick skills audit. Determining where your strengths and weaknesses are, what you know and what you don’t, will give you the clarity to understand how you can become a more well-rounded – and employable – researcher or market research analyst.

Starting this list with what is now arguably the most crucial skill today.

AI is being applied at all stages of the research lifecycle, from quality assurance checks on surveys to spot biases to data cleaning, analyzing video from in-person qualitative research to creating highlight reels and shareable results. So, while broadly having good “AI skills” is certainly the way forward now, in the very near future the onus will be on specializing in specific components of AI-driven research.

Our recommendation is that you infuse AI into everything you do and go from there. The exponential growth of data and advanced AI tools makes knowing and understanding them essential for staying competitive in a data-driven market.

Safe to say, nothing is more central to career growth in market research right now than knowing how best to apply AI.

Statistical analysis skills

From new skills to those that will always be in demand.

Statistical analysis skills comprise the likes of statistical modeling, data collection strategies, data visualization and presentation, reconfiguration, Excel, R, SAS, Python – the list goes on. A timeless necessity, solid statistical techniques create the ability to interpret and manipulate data, and identify patterns and trends. In the Big Data era, the ability to distill meaningful information from vast datasets is more critical than ever for effective decision-making.

As researchers and organizations double-down on technologies, honing your statistical data analysis skills as a foundational competency can truly set you apart.

Digital qualitative skills

As digital qualitative research takes center stage, the broad collection of skills required to maximize it have become highly sought after.

Digital qualitative skills encompass designing, conducting and analyzing data from online interviews, focus groups and various other digital qual methods. It’s an umbrella term that also includes prospecting, designing research programs, crafting proposals, managing relationships and identifying target audiences. The main complexity, however, is that all of these skills must of course be done remotely.

A significant portion of researchers (36%) report difficulties in establishing the same level of rapport with participants online as in face-to-face settings. From communication skills to critical thinking, and becoming well-versed in all things consumer behavior, developing the core competencies to mitigate the challenges of online-only interactions is essential for any market researcher.

Data integration skills

This one is particularly important for modern organizations using digital technologies for market research. Data integration, on any research project, can be very complex – especially if market researchers are pulling and interpreting data from multiple sources.

Data integration skills are also essential for closing experience gaps, something that every organization is prioritizing.

The best researchers have a thorough understanding of how to extract information and combine data sets without compromising data quality. They’ll also understand how to structure APIs, use spreadsheets, model data, use statistical analytics programs and coding languages, and more. Of course, with newer market research platforms, much of this can be done with ease.

Automation skills

Automation has become vital in streamlining market research.

Automation skills enable researchers to use AI and machine learning for tasks like data analysis and report formatting, freeing them up for more strategic work. By mastering automation, researchers are better positioned to adapt to new trends and methodologies, ensuring their work remains relevant and impactful.

Developing automation skills isn’t just about understanding and using tools; it’s about reshaping the role of the market researcher to be more efficient and adaptable, and creating capacity for in-depth market research analysis and strategy development.

The importance of getting the basics right

In the fast-evolving field of market research, where cutting-edge technologies and advanced technical skills are often spotlighted, the importance of mastering the basics can’t be overstated. The foundation of effective market and marketing research lies in getting the basics right.

It's essential to not lose sight of fundamentals like survey best practices, interview skills and well-researched questions. These basics are the cornerstone of accurate data collection and ensure the clarity and relevance of the research. They are vital for engaging the right audience and for the effective analysis and interpretation of data.

While advanced technologies and skills are crucial, they should enhance, not overshadow, the foundational aspects of market research.

Embracing platformification in market research in 2024

In today's fast-paced market, having the right technology is crucial, just as much as having the right skills. The future of market research is "Platformification”, integrating various tools into a unified platform. This approach isn't about accumulating disparate solutions; it's about creating a cohesive system that enhances the capabilities of researchers at all skill levels.

Platformification streamlines research methods , data sources and analytics into a single, accessible platform. It allows for quick sharing of insights through tailored dashboards, offering both basic and complex analyses suitable for different roles.

For market researchers, this shift is transformative. It elevates their role from being reactive data analysts to proactive strategists, enabling on-demand insights and strategic recommendations across the buyer’s journey.

While fundamental research skills remain essential, platformification can expand the researcher's value and the impact they create.

How can we help

In a highly competitive business world – with disruptive new entrants more empowered than ever before – researchers need smarter, faster research solutions to stay ahead of the game.

Qualtrics® Strategic Research is an end-to-end research platform that brings together both quantitative and qualitative methods and AI-powered analytics to uncover insights at scale.

• Collect, analyze, share and act on insights from a variety of qualitative methods, including video feedback, video diary studies and in-depth interviews
• Leverage pre-built customisable projects, programs and dashboards
• Automate advanced statistical analyses including Conjoint and MaxDiff
• Easily build profiles, segments, and proprietary panels and reach out on the right channels through personalized targeting

Aaron Carpenter // Experience Management Content Strategist

Aaron is a highly skilled and accomplished content strategist specializing in experience management. With a keen understanding of the ever-evolving landscape of digital content, Aaron brings a unique perspective to the art of crafting engaging and impactful experiences for users.

Will Webster // Co-founder at interlude

Will Webster is the co-founder of the employee wellbeing tool Interlude. With over decades of experience writing for some of the largest brands, he is a skilled copywriter passionately writing in his free time.

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How to Do Market Research: The Complete Guide

Learn how to do market research with this step-by-step guide, complete with templates, tools and real-world examples.

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What are your customers’ needs? How does your product compare to the competition? What are the emerging trends and opportunities in your industry? If these questions keep you up at night, it’s time to conduct market research.

Market research plays a pivotal role in your ability to stay competitive and relevant, helping you anticipate shifts in consumer behavior and industry dynamics. It involves gathering these insights using a wide range of techniques, from surveys and interviews to data analysis and observational studies.

In this guide, we’ll explore why market research is crucial, the various types of market research, the methods used in data collection, and how to effectively conduct market research to drive informed decision-making and success.

What is market research?

Market research is the systematic process of gathering, analyzing and interpreting information about a specific market or industry. The purpose of market research is to offer valuable insight into the preferences and behaviors of your target audience, and anticipate shifts in market trends and the competitive landscape. This information helps you make data-driven decisions, develop effective strategies for your business, and maximize your chances of long-term growth.

Why is market research important? 

By understanding the significance of market research, you can make sure you’re asking the right questions and using the process to your advantage. Some of the benefits of market research include:

• Informed decision-making: Market research provides you with the data and insights you need to make smart decisions for your business. It helps you identify opportunities, assess risks and tailor your strategies to meet the demands of the market. Without market research, decisions are often based on assumptions or guesswork, leading to costly mistakes.
• Customer-centric approach: A cornerstone of market research involves developing a deep understanding of customer needs and preferences. This gives you valuable insights into your target audience, helping you develop products, services and marketing campaigns that resonate with your customers.
• Competitive advantage: By conducting market research, you’ll gain a competitive edge. You’ll be able to identify gaps in the market, analyze competitor strengths and weaknesses, and position your business strategically. This enables you to create unique value propositions, differentiate yourself from competitors, and seize opportunities that others may overlook.
• Risk mitigation: Market research helps you anticipate market shifts and potential challenges. By identifying threats early, you can proactively adjust their strategies to mitigate risks and respond effectively to changing circumstances. This proactive approach is particularly valuable in volatile industries.
• Resource optimization: Conducting market research allows organizations to allocate their time, money and resources more efficiently. It ensures that investments are made in areas with the highest potential return on investment, reducing wasted resources and improving overall business performance.
• Adaptation to market trends: Markets evolve rapidly, driven by technological advancements, cultural shifts and changing consumer attitudes. Market research ensures that you stay ahead of these trends and adapt your offerings accordingly so you can avoid becoming obsolete. 

As you can see, market research empowers businesses to make data-driven decisions, cater to customer needs, outperform competitors, mitigate risks, optimize resources and stay agile in a dynamic marketplace. These benefits make it a huge industry; the global market research services market is expected to grow from $76.37 billion in 2021 to $108.57 billion in 2026 . Now, let’s dig into the different types of market research that can help you achieve these benefits.

Types of market research 

• Qualitative research
• Quantitative research
• Exploratory research
• Descriptive research
• Causal research
• Cross-sectional research
• Longitudinal research

Despite its advantages, 23% of organizations don’t have a clear market research strategy. Part of developing a strategy involves choosing the right type of market research for your business goals. The most commonly used approaches include:

1. Qualitative research

Qualitative research focuses on understanding the underlying motivations, attitudes and perceptions of individuals or groups. It is typically conducted through techniques like in-depth interviews, focus groups and content analysis — methods we’ll discuss further in the sections below. Qualitative research provides rich, nuanced insights that can inform product development, marketing strategies and brand positioning.

2. Quantitative research

Quantitative research, in contrast to qualitative research, involves the collection and analysis of numerical data, often through surveys, experiments and structured questionnaires. This approach allows for statistical analysis and the measurement of trends, making it suitable for large-scale market studies and hypothesis testing. While it’s worthwhile using a mix of qualitative and quantitative research, most businesses prioritize the latter because it is scientific, measurable and easily replicated across different experiments.

3. Exploratory research

Whether you’re conducting qualitative or quantitative research or a mix of both, exploratory research is often the first step. Its primary goal is to help you understand a market or problem so you can gain insights and identify potential issues or opportunities. This type of market research is less structured and is typically conducted through open-ended interviews, focus groups or secondary data analysis. Exploratory research is valuable when entering new markets or exploring new product ideas.

4. Descriptive research

As its name implies, descriptive research seeks to describe a market, population or phenomenon in detail. It involves collecting and summarizing data to answer questions about audience demographics and behaviors, market size, and current trends. Surveys, observational studies and content analysis are common methods used in descriptive research. 

5. Causal research

Causal research aims to establish cause-and-effect relationships between variables. It investigates whether changes in one variable result in changes in another. Experimental designs, A/B testing and regression analysis are common causal research methods. This sheds light on how specific marketing strategies or product changes impact consumer behavior.

6. Cross-sectional research

Cross-sectional market research involves collecting data from a sample of the population at a single point in time. It is used to analyze differences, relationships or trends among various groups within a population. Cross-sectional studies are helpful for market segmentation, identifying target audiences and assessing market trends at a specific moment.

7. Longitudinal research

Longitudinal research, in contrast to cross-sectional research, collects data from the same subjects over an extended period. This allows for the analysis of trends, changes and developments over time. Longitudinal studies are useful for tracking long-term developments in consumer preferences, brand loyalty and market dynamics.

Each type of market research has its strengths and weaknesses, and the method you choose depends on your specific research goals and the depth of understanding you’re aiming to achieve. In the following sections, we’ll delve into primary and secondary research approaches and specific research methods.

Primary vs. secondary market research

Market research of all types can be broadly categorized into two main approaches: primary research and secondary research. By understanding the differences between these approaches, you can better determine the most appropriate research method for your specific goals.

Primary market research 

Primary research involves the collection of original data straight from the source. Typically, this involves communicating directly with your target audience — through surveys, interviews, focus groups and more — to gather information. Here are some key attributes of primary market research:

• Customized data: Primary research provides data that is tailored to your research needs. You design a custom research study and gather information specific to your goals.
• Up-to-date insights: Because primary research involves communicating with customers, the data you collect reflects the most current market conditions and consumer behaviors.
• Time-consuming and resource-intensive: Despite its advantages, primary research can be labor-intensive and costly, especially when dealing with large sample sizes or complex study designs. Whether you hire a market research consultant, agency or use an in-house team, primary research studies consume a large amount of resources and time.

Secondary market research 

Secondary research, on the other hand, involves analyzing data that has already been compiled by third-party sources, such as online research tools, databases, news sites, industry reports and academic studies.

Here are the main characteristics of secondary market research:

• Cost-effective: Secondary research is generally more cost-effective than primary research since it doesn’t require building a research plan from scratch. You and your team can look at databases, websites and publications on an ongoing basis, without needing to design a custom experiment or hire a consultant. 
• Leverages multiple sources: Data tools and software extract data from multiple places across the web, and then consolidate that information within a single platform. This means you’ll get a greater amount of data and a wider scope from secondary research.
• Quick to access: You can access a wide range of information rapidly — often in seconds — if you’re using online research tools and databases. Because of this, you can act on insights sooner, rather than taking the time to develop an experiment. 

So, when should you use primary vs. secondary research? In practice, many market research projects incorporate both primary and secondary research to take advantage of the strengths of each approach.

One rule of thumb is to focus on secondary research to obtain background information, market trends or industry benchmarks. It is especially valuable for conducting preliminary research, competitor analysis, or when time and budget constraints are tight. Then, if you still have knowledge gaps or need to answer specific questions unique to your business model, use primary research to create a custom experiment. 

Market research methods

• Surveys and questionnaires
• Focus groups
• Observational research
• Online research tools
• Experiments
• Content analysis
• Ethnographic research

How do primary and secondary research approaches translate into specific research methods? Let’s take a look at the different ways you can gather data: 

1. Surveys and questionnaires

Surveys and questionnaires are popular methods for collecting structured data from a large number of respondents. They involve a set of predetermined questions that participants answer. Surveys can be conducted through various channels, including online tools, telephone interviews and in-person or online questionnaires. They are useful for gathering quantitative data and assessing customer demographics, opinions, preferences and needs. On average, customer surveys have a 33% response rate , so keep that in mind as you consider your sample size.

2. Interviews

Interviews are in-depth conversations with individuals or groups to gather qualitative insights. They can be structured (with predefined questions) or unstructured (with open-ended discussions). Interviews are valuable for exploring complex topics, uncovering motivations and obtaining detailed feedback. 

3. Focus groups

The most common primary research methods are in-depth webcam interviews and focus groups. Focus groups are a small gathering of participants who discuss a specific topic or product under the guidance of a moderator. These discussions are valuable for primary market research because they reveal insights into consumer attitudes, perceptions and emotions. Focus groups are especially useful for idea generation, concept testing and understanding group dynamics within your target audience.

4. Observational research

Observational research involves observing and recording participant behavior in a natural setting. This method is particularly valuable when studying consumer behavior in physical spaces, such as retail stores or public places. In some types of observational research, participants are aware you’re watching them; in other cases, you discreetly watch consumers without their knowledge, as they use your product. Either way, observational research provides firsthand insights into how people interact with products or environments.

5. Online research tools

You and your team can do your own secondary market research using online tools. These tools include data prospecting platforms and databases, as well as online surveys, social media listening, web analytics and sentiment analysis platforms. They help you gather data from online sources, monitor industry trends, track competitors, understand consumer preferences and keep tabs on online behavior. We’ll talk more about choosing the right market research tools in the sections that follow.

6. Experiments

Market research experiments are controlled tests of variables to determine causal relationships. While experiments are often associated with scientific research, they are also used in market research to assess the impact of specific marketing strategies, product features, or pricing and packaging changes.

7. Content analysis

Content analysis involves the systematic examination of textual, visual or audio content to identify patterns, themes and trends. It’s commonly applied to customer reviews, social media posts and other forms of online content to analyze consumer opinions and sentiments.

8. Ethnographic research

Ethnographic research immerses researchers into the daily lives of consumers to understand their behavior and culture. This method is particularly valuable when studying niche markets or exploring the cultural context of consumer choices.

How to do market research

• Set clear objectives
• Identify your target audience
• Choose your research methods
• Use the right market research tools
• Collect data
• Analyze data 
• Interpret your findings
• Identify opportunities and challenges
• Make informed business decisions
• Monitor and adapt

Now that you have gained insights into the various market research methods at your disposal, let’s delve into the practical aspects of how to conduct market research effectively. Here’s a quick step-by-step overview, from defining objectives to monitoring market shifts.

1. Set clear objectives

When you set clear and specific goals, you’re essentially creating a compass to guide your research questions and methodology. Start by precisely defining what you want to achieve. Are you launching a new product and want to understand its viability in the market? Are you evaluating customer satisfaction with a product redesign? 

Start by creating SMART goals — objectives that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. Not only will this clarify your research focus from the outset, but it will also help you track progress and benchmark your success throughout the process. 

You should also consult with key stakeholders and team members to ensure alignment on your research objectives before diving into data collecting. This will help you gain diverse perspectives and insights that will shape your research approach.

2. Identify your target audience

Next, you’ll need to pinpoint your target audience to determine who should be included in your research. Begin by creating detailed buyer personas or stakeholder profiles. Consider demographic factors like age, gender, income and location, but also delve into psychographics, such as interests, values and pain points.

The more specific your target audience, the more accurate and actionable your research will be. Additionally, segment your audience if your research objectives involve studying different groups, such as current customers and potential leads.

If you already have existing customers, you can also hold conversations with them to better understand your target market. From there, you can refine your buyer personas and tailor your research methods accordingly.

3. Choose your research methods

Selecting the right research methods is crucial for gathering high-quality data. Start by considering the nature of your research objectives. If you’re exploring consumer preferences, surveys and interviews can provide valuable insights. For in-depth understanding, focus groups or observational research might be suitable. Consider using a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods to gain a well-rounded perspective. 

You’ll also need to consider your budget. Think about what you can realistically achieve using the time and resources available to you. If you have a fairly generous budget, you may want to try a mix of primary and secondary research approaches. If you’re doing market research for a startup , on the other hand, chances are your budget is somewhat limited. If that’s the case, try addressing your goals with secondary research tools before investing time and effort in a primary research study. 

4. Use the right market research tools

Whether you’re conducting primary or secondary research, you’ll need to choose the right tools. These can help you do anything from sending surveys to customers to monitoring trends and analyzing data. Here are some examples of popular market research tools:

• Market research software: Crunchbase is a platform that provides best-in-class company data, making it valuable for market research on growing companies and industries. You can use Crunchbase to access trusted, first-party funding data, revenue data, news and firmographics, enabling you to monitor industry trends and understand customer needs.

• Survey and questionnaire tools: SurveyMonkey is a widely used online survey platform that allows you to create, distribute and analyze surveys. Google Forms is a free tool that lets you create surveys and collect responses through Google Drive.
• Data analysis software: Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets are useful for conducting statistical analyses. SPSS is a powerful statistical analysis software used for data processing, analysis and reporting.
• Social listening tools: Brandwatch is a social listening and analytics platform that helps you monitor social media conversations, track sentiment and analyze trends. Mention is a media monitoring tool that allows you to track mentions of your brand, competitors and keywords across various online sources.
• Data visualization platforms: Tableau is a data visualization tool that helps you create interactive and shareable dashboards and reports. Power BI by Microsoft is a business analytics tool for creating interactive visualizations and reports.

5. Collect data

There’s an infinite amount of data you could be collecting using these tools, so you’ll need to be intentional about going after the data that aligns with your research goals. Implement your chosen research methods, whether it’s distributing surveys, conducting interviews or pulling from secondary research platforms. Pay close attention to data quality and accuracy, and stick to a standardized process to streamline data capture and reduce errors. 

6. Analyze data

Once data is collected, you’ll need to analyze it systematically. Use statistical software or analysis tools to identify patterns, trends and correlations. For qualitative data, employ thematic analysis to extract common themes and insights. Visualize your findings with charts, graphs and tables to make complex data more understandable.

If you’re not proficient in data analysis, consider outsourcing or collaborating with a data analyst who can assist in processing and interpreting your data accurately.

7. Interpret your findings

Interpreting your market research findings involves understanding what the data means in the context of your objectives. Are there significant trends that uncover the answers to your initial research questions? Consider the implications of your findings on your business strategy. It’s essential to move beyond raw data and extract actionable insights that inform decision-making.

Hold a cross-functional meeting or workshop with relevant team members to collectively interpret the findings. Different perspectives can lead to more comprehensive insights and innovative solutions.

8. Identify opportunities and challenges

Use your research findings to identify potential growth opportunities and challenges within your market. What segments of your audience are underserved or overlooked? Are there emerging trends you can capitalize on? Conversely, what obstacles or competitors could hinder your progress?

Lay out this information in a clear and organized way by conducting a SWOT analysis, which stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Jot down notes for each of these areas to provide a structured overview of gaps and hurdles in the market.

9. Make informed business decisions

Market research is only valuable if it leads to informed decisions for your company. Based on your insights, devise actionable strategies and initiatives that align with your research objectives. Whether it’s refining your product, targeting new customer segments or adjusting pricing, ensure your decisions are rooted in the data.

At this point, it’s also crucial to keep your team aligned and accountable. Create an action plan that outlines specific steps, responsibilities and timelines for implementing the recommendations derived from your research. 

10. Monitor and adapt

Market research isn’t a one-time activity; it’s an ongoing process. Continuously monitor market conditions, customer behaviors and industry trends. Set up mechanisms to collect real-time data and feedback. As you gather new information, be prepared to adapt your strategies and tactics accordingly. Regularly revisiting your research ensures your business remains agile and reflects changing market dynamics and consumer preferences.

Online market research sources

As you go through the steps above, you’ll want to turn to trusted, reputable sources to gather your data. Here’s a list to get you started:

• Crunchbase: As mentioned above, Crunchbase is an online platform with an extensive dataset, allowing you to access in-depth insights on market trends, consumer behavior and competitive analysis. You can also customize your search options to tailor your research to specific industries, geographic regions or customer personas.

• Academic databases: Academic databases, such as ProQuest and JSTOR , are treasure troves of scholarly research papers, studies and academic journals. They offer in-depth analyses of various subjects, including market trends, consumer preferences and industry-specific insights. Researchers can access a wealth of peer-reviewed publications to gain a deeper understanding of their research topics.
• Government and NGO databases: Government agencies, nongovernmental organizations and other institutions frequently maintain databases containing valuable economic, demographic and industry-related data. These sources offer credible statistics and reports on a wide range of topics, making them essential for market researchers. Examples include the U.S. Census Bureau , the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Pew Research Center .
• Industry reports: Industry reports and market studies are comprehensive documents prepared by research firms, industry associations and consulting companies. They provide in-depth insights into specific markets, including market size, trends, competitive analysis and consumer behavior. You can find this information by looking at relevant industry association databases; examples include the American Marketing Association and the National Retail Federation .
• Social media and online communities: Social media platforms like LinkedIn or Twitter (X) , forums such as Reddit and Quora , and review platforms such as G2 can provide real-time insights into consumer sentiment, opinions and trends. 

Market research examples

At this point, you have market research tools and data sources — but how do you act on the data you gather? Let’s go over some real-world examples that illustrate the practical application of market research across various industries. These examples showcase how market research can lead to smart decision-making and successful business decisions.

Example 1: Apple’s iPhone launch

Apple ’s iconic iPhone launch in 2007 serves as a prime example of market research driving product innovation in tech. Before the iPhone’s release, Apple conducted extensive market research to understand consumer preferences, pain points and unmet needs in the mobile phone industry. This research led to the development of a touchscreen smartphone with a user-friendly interface, addressing consumer demands for a more intuitive and versatile device. The result was a revolutionary product that disrupted the market and redefined the smartphone industry.

Example 2: McDonald’s global expansion

McDonald’s successful global expansion strategy demonstrates the importance of market research when expanding into new territories. Before entering a new market, McDonald’s conducts thorough research to understand local tastes, preferences and cultural nuances. This research informs menu customization, marketing strategies and store design. For instance, in India, McDonald’s offers a menu tailored to local preferences, including vegetarian options. This market-specific approach has enabled McDonald’s to adapt and thrive in diverse global markets.

Example 3: Organic and sustainable farming

The shift toward organic and sustainable farming practices in the food industry is driven by market research that indicates increased consumer demand for healthier and environmentally friendly food options. As a result, food producers and retailers invest in sustainable sourcing and organic product lines — such as with these sustainable seafood startups — to align with this shift in consumer values. 

The bottom line? Market research has multiple use cases and is a critical practice for any industry. Whether it’s launching groundbreaking products, entering new markets or responding to changing consumer preferences, you can use market research to shape successful strategies and outcomes.

Market research templates

You finally have a strong understanding of how to do market research and apply it in the real world. Before we wrap up, here are some market research templates that you can use as a starting point for your projects:

• Smartsheet competitive analysis templates : These spreadsheets can serve as a framework for gathering information about the competitive landscape and obtaining valuable lessons to apply to your business strategy.
• SurveyMonkey product survey template : Customize the questions on this survey based on what you want to learn from your target customers.
• HubSpot templates : HubSpot offers a wide range of free templates you can use for market research, business planning and more.
• SCORE templates : SCORE is a nonprofit organization that provides templates for business plans, market analysis and financial projections.
• SBA.gov : The U.S. Small Business Administration offers templates for every aspect of your business, including market research, and is particularly valuable for new startups. 

Strengthen your business with market research

When conducted effectively, market research is like a guiding star. Equipped with the right tools and techniques, you can uncover valuable insights, stay competitive, foster innovation and navigate the complexities of your industry.

Throughout this guide, we’ve discussed the definition of market research, different research methods, and how to conduct it effectively. We’ve also explored various types of market research and shared practical insights and templates for getting started. 

Now, it’s time to start the research process. Trust in data, listen to the market and make informed decisions that guide your company toward lasting success.

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6 Key Market Research Skills for 2021

It’s that time again, when we begin to focus on the coming year and what it may have in store. One area that saw remarkable shifts in 2020, both in challenges and opportunities, is market research. For a peek at the future, we reached out to several leading market researchers and insights professionals and posed the question: What’s one skill or area of expertise you want to focus on developing in 2021, and why?

Not surprisingly, some are focused on how doing everything online has generated more and more data— good news but in some ways challenging news, too, as competition for stakeholders’ attention grows fiercer. To increase the influence of research findings on business decision making—which maximizes the research ROI and benefits everyone—it’s necessary to break through the noise and keep stakeholders engaged. And, of course, more time spent online also opens more and different opportunities to engage with customers and prospects.

Another trend is the power of human creativity in extracting meaning from data. Technology can only take us so far, in both gathering and analyzing data. Human learning continues to be critical, along with our unique ability to use stories to find and share meaning.

And because everything old eventually becomes new again, we see renewed attention to a foundational market research skill: the art of the interview.

Check out the top skills and areas of expertise that six market research leaders plan to focus on in 2021.

Omnichannel Strategies

Jerry Han, Chief Marketing Executive at PrizeRebel , is focused on omnichannel technology and marketing. According to Han, as more large companies and brands are making effective use of omnichannel strategies in their marketing and brand awareness plans, it has become practical to use an omnichannel approach in data gathering for market research.

Knowledge in omnichannel technology and marketing is a crucial skill to master in 2021. Omnichannel market research targets all possible places where the audience possibly hangs out, including in-store, digital, or mobile platforms to give a more comprehensive outlook on the target market…[It’s] a relatively new concept, but it shows massive potential in reshaping data gathering for marketing campaigns.

Deeper Analysis and Experience Management

Michelle Diamond, CEO at Elevate Diamond Strategy , is emphasizing deeper data analysis (as opposed to more data collection) to maximize value from the plethora of data being generated. She also sees opportunities in experience management, which helps companies capitalize on opportunities and mitigate problems before they occur.

The world is going even more online than we were before and the need to make better sense of all this additional data is crucial. In addition, companies are more sensitive now to anticipating problems beforehand, as reacting to problems later can be costly from a financial and reputational standpoint.

Both these trends highlight the value in—and the need to—act on insights in real time. Businesses have treasure troves of data, and uncovering actionable insights from that data will help them mitigate risk and deliver positive customer experiences. 

Data Triangulation

Speaking of acting on insights in real time: Andria Long , Growth & Innovation Advisor, says the key to differentiation is being able to learn and act faster. She considers the most important skill for the insights professional to be data triangulation : uncovering and synthesizing connections across multiple and diverse data sources.

At the end of the day, everyone has access to the same data…converting data into insights is critical. The ability to see what’s NOT there and make something happen is essential with accelerated industry transformation, growing volumes of data, and rapidly evolving consumer preferences.

She goes on to note that it’s human learning that enables insights professionals to stay relevant and continue growing professionally in an era of machine learning.

In addition to data, we need to gain insights from observation, experience, reflection, and reasoning and make recommendations to drive growth.

Back to Basics: Interviewing Skills

According to Colin Palfrey, CMO at Majesty Coffee , everyone should be honing the skills needed to interview customers and others in their target audience. Good interview skills have become more important than ever with many people working remotely, as the dynamics of interviewing virtually are different than interviewing in person: 

Everything has changed in the last eight months, and if you want your business to thrive, you need to be in touch with your audience. I’ve found that actual interviews are so much more efficient than surveys. When you interview someone, you can understand the context a bit more and ask follow-up questions.

Storytelling

One evergreen challenge for market research professionals is communicating insights to stakeholders in a way that sticks and drives action. With researchers and stakeholders working remotely or in different locations, keeping stakeholders engaged and interested is more important than ever. Organizing data and research findings into meaningful stories is a great way to hold stakeholders’ attention and make an impact.

Bruce Harpham , Marketing Consultant, is getting serious about developing his storytelling skills.

I gather a lot of data, quantitative and qualitative, while working with clients. Without a story to organize all this data, it is nearly impossible to remember insights and improve.

To build his storytelling chops, Bruce is reading (Wired for Story: The Writer’s Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence by Lisa Cron) and writing (participating in National Novel Writing Month).

Activating Insight

In addition to conveying insights through stories, researchers can increase their influence by tailoring their insights delivery to stakeholders and getting creative with the formats of their presentations. 

Chris Martin, CMO at FlexMR , is considering the stakeholder’s perspective and says it will be vital, through 2021 and beyond, for research professionals to get better at activating insight.

The explosion of research and analysis technology of the past decade has given stakeholders access to an increasingly complex data landscape. Research professionals need to find new ways and new skills to help grow the influence of research conclusions.  Ensuring that findings have an impact on business decision making means competing for stakeholder attention in a competitive environment. Creativity, strategy and storytelling will all be essential components—applied in original and inventive ways to maximize stakeholder engagement.

Hopefully, 2021 will hold fewer surprises than this year, less disruption and urgent adaptation and more smooth sailing while we learn to leverage some of the skills and processes that emerged in 2020. But whatever 2021 has in store, developing the skills and areas of expertise above can help research professionals be agile and act as strategic advisors for their stakeholders. 

We see the future of market research as exciting as it’s ever been, and we want to thank the research and insights professionals who helped us take a look at what lies ahead.

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How to do market research in 4 steps: a lean approach to marketing research

From pinpointing your target audience and assessing your competitive advantage, to ongoing product development and customer satisfaction efforts, market research is a practice your business can only benefit from.

Learn how to conduct quick and effective market research using a lean approach in this article full of strategies and practical examples. 

Last updated

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A comprehensive (and successful) business strategy is not complete without some form of market research—you can’t make informed and profitable business decisions without truly understanding your customer base and the current market trends that drive your business.

In this article, you’ll learn how to conduct quick, effective market research  using an approach called 'lean market research'. It’s easier than you might think, and it can be done at any stage in a product’s lifecycle.

How to conduct lean market research in 4 steps

What is market research, why is market research so valuable, advantages of lean market research, 4 common market research methods, 5 common market research questions, market research faqs.

We’ll jump right into our 4-step approach to lean market research. To show you how it’s done in the real world, each step includes a practical example from Smallpdf , a Swiss company that used lean market research to reduce their tool’s error rate by 75% and boost their Net Promoter Score® (NPS) by 1%.

Research your market the lean way...

From on-page surveys to user interviews, Hotjar has the tools to help you scope out your market and get to know your customers—without breaking the bank.

The following four steps and practical examples will give you a solid market research plan for understanding who your users are and what they want from a company like yours.

1. Create simple user personas

A user persona is a semi-fictional character based on psychographic and demographic data from people who use websites and products similar to your own. Start by defining broad user categories, then elaborate on them later to further segment your customer base and determine your ideal customer profile .

How to get the data: use on-page or emailed surveys and interviews to understand your users and what drives them to your business.

How to do it right: whatever survey or interview questions you ask, they should answer the following questions about the customer:

Who are they?

What is their main goal?

What is their main barrier to achieving this goal?

Pitfalls to avoid:

Don’t ask too many questions! Keep it to five or less, otherwise you’ll inundate them and they’ll stop answering thoughtfully.

Don’t worry too much about typical demographic questions like age or background. Instead, focus on the role these people play (as it relates to your product) and their goals.

How Smallpdf did it: Smallpdf ran an on-page survey for a couple of weeks and received 1,000 replies. They learned that many of their users were administrative assistants, students, and teachers.

Next, they used the survey results to create simple user personas like this one for admins:

Who are they? Administrative Assistants.

What is their main goal? Creating Word documents from a scanned, hard-copy document or a PDF where the source file was lost.

What is their main barrier to achieving it? Converting a scanned PDF doc to a Word file.

💡Pro tip: Smallpdf used Hotjar Surveys to run their user persona survey. Our survey tool helped them avoid the pitfalls of guesswork and find out who their users really are, in their own words. 

You can design a survey and start running it in minutes with our easy-to-use drag and drop builder. Customize your survey to fit your needs, from a sleek one-question pop-up survey to a fully branded questionnaire sent via email. 

We've also created 40+ free survey templates that you can start collecting data with, including a user persona survey like the one Smallpdf used.

2. Conduct observational research

Observational research involves taking notes while watching someone use your product (or a similar product).

Overt vs. covert observation

Overt observation involves asking customers if they’ll let you watch them use your product. This method is often used for user testing and it provides a great opportunity for collecting live product or customer feedback .

Covert observation means studying users ‘in the wild’ without them knowing. This method works well if you sell a type of product that people use regularly, and it offers the purest observational data because people often behave differently when they know they’re being watched. 

Tips to do it right:

Record an entry in your field notes, along with a timestamp, each time an action or event occurs.

Make note of the users' workflow, capturing the ‘what,’ ‘why,’ and ‘for whom’ of each action.

Don’t record identifiable video or audio data without consent. If recording people using your product is helpful for achieving your research goal, make sure all participants are informed and agree to the terms.

Don’t forget to explain why you’d like to observe them (for overt observation). People are more likely to cooperate if you tell them you want to improve the product.

💡Pro tip: while conducting field research out in the wild can wield rewarding results, you can also conduct observational research remotely. Hotjar Recordings is a tool that lets you capture anonymized user sessions of real people interacting with your website. 

Observe how customers navigate your pages and products to gain an inside look into their user behavior . This method is great for conducting exploratory research with the purpose of identifying more specific issues to investigate further, like pain points along the customer journey and opportunities for optimizing conversion .

With Hotjar Recordings you can observe real people using your site without capturing their sensitive information

How Smallpdf did it: here’s how Smallpdf observed two different user personas both covertly and overtly.

Observing students (covert): Kristina Wagner, Principle Product Manager at Smallpdf, went to cafes and libraries at two local universities and waited until she saw students doing PDF-related activities. Then she watched and took notes from a distance. One thing that struck her was the difference between how students self-reported their activities vs. how they behaved (i.e, the self-reporting bias). Students, she found, spent hours talking, listening to music, or simply staring at a blank screen rather than working. When she did find students who were working, she recorded the task they were performing and the software they were using (if she recognized it).

Observing administrative assistants (overt): Kristina sent emails to admins explaining that she’d like to observe them at work, and she asked those who agreed to try to batch their PDF work for her observation day. While watching admins work, she learned that they frequently needed to scan documents into PDF-format and then convert those PDFs into Word docs. By observing the challenges admins faced, Smallpdf knew which products to target for improvement.

“Data is really good for discovery and validation, but there is a bit in the middle where you have to go and find the human.”

3. Conduct individual interviews

Interviews are one-on-one conversations with members of your target market. They allow you to dig deep and explore their concerns, which can lead to all sorts of revelations.

Listen more, talk less. Be curious.

Act like a journalist, not a salesperson. Rather than trying to talk your company up, ask people about their lives, their needs, their frustrations, and how a product like yours could help.

Ask "why?" so you can dig deeper. Get into the specifics and learn about their past behavior.

Record the conversation. Focus on the conversation and avoid relying solely on notes by recording the interview. There are plenty of services that will transcribe recorded conversations for a good price (including Hotjar!).

Avoid asking leading questions , which reveal bias on your part and pushes respondents to answer in a certain direction (e.g. “Have you taken advantage of the amazing new features we just released?).

Don't ask loaded questions , which sneak in an assumption which, if untrue, would make it impossible to answer honestly. For example, we can’t ask you, “What did you find most useful about this article?” without asking whether you found the article useful in the first place.

Be cautious when asking opinions about the future (or predictions of future behavior). Studies suggest that people aren’t very good at predicting their future behavior. This is due to several cognitive biases, from the misguided exceptionalism bias (we’re good at guessing what others will do, but we somehow think we’re different), to the optimism bias (which makes us see things with rose-colored glasses), to the ‘illusion of control’ (which makes us forget the role of randomness in future events).

How Smallpdf did it: Kristina explored her teacher user persona by speaking with university professors at a local graduate school. She learned that the school was mostly paperless and rarely used PDFs, so for the sake of time, she moved on to the admins.

A bit of a letdown? Sure. But this story highlights an important lesson: sometimes you follow a lead and come up short, so you have to make adjustments on the fly. Lean market research is about getting solid, actionable insights quickly so you can tweak things and see what works.

💡Pro tip: to save even more time, conduct remote interviews using an online user research service like Hotjar Engage , which automates the entire interview process, from recruitment and scheduling to hosting and recording.

You can interview your own customers or connect with people from our diverse pool of 200,000+ participants from 130+ countries and 25 industries. And no need to fret about taking meticulous notes—Engage will automatically transcribe the interview for you.

4. Analyze the data (without drowning in it)

The following techniques will help you wrap your head around the market data you collect without losing yourself in it. Remember, the point of lean market research is to find quick, actionable insights.

A flow model is a diagram that tracks the flow of information within a system. By creating a simple visual representation of how users interact with your product and each other, you can better assess their needs.

You’ll notice that admins are at the center of Smallpdf’s flow model, which represents the flow of PDF-related documents throughout a school. This flow model shows the challenges that admins face as they work to satisfy their own internal and external customers.

Affinity diagram

An affinity diagram is a way of sorting large amounts of data into groups to better understand the big picture. For example, if you ask your users about their profession, you’ll notice some general themes start to form, even though the individual responses differ. Depending on your needs, you could group them by profession, or more generally by industry.

We wrote a guide about how to analyze open-ended questions to help you sort through and categorize large volumes of response data. You can also do this by hand by clipping up survey responses or interview notes and grouping them (which is what Kristina does).

“For an interview, you will have somewhere between 30 and 60 notes, and those notes are usually direct phrases. And when you literally cut them up into separate pieces of paper and group them, they should make sense by themselves.”

Pro tip: if you’re conducting an online survey with Hotjar, keep your team in the loop by sharing survey responses automatically via our Slack and Microsoft Team integrations. Reading answers as they come in lets you digest the data in pieces and can help prepare you for identifying common themes when it comes time for analysis.

Hotjar lets you easily share survey responses with your team

Customer journey map

A customer journey map is a diagram that shows the way a typical prospect becomes a paying customer. It outlines their first interaction with your brand and every step in the sales cycle, from awareness to repurchase (and hopefully advocacy).

The above  customer journey map , created by our team at Hotjar, shows many ways a customer might engage with our tool. Your map will be based on your own data and business model.

📚 Read more: if you’re new to customer journey maps, we wrote this step-by-step guide to creating your first customer journey map in 2 and 1/2 days with free templates you can download and start using immediately.

Next steps: from research to results

So, how do you turn market research insights into tangible business results? Let’s look at the actions Smallpdf took after conducting their lean market research: first they implemented changes, then measured the impact.

Implement changes

Based on what Smallpdf learned about the challenges that one key user segment (admins) face when trying to convert PDFs into Word files, they improved their ‘PDF to Word’ conversion tool.

We won’t go into the details here because it involves a lot of technical jargon, but they made the entire process simpler and more straightforward for users. Plus, they made it so that their system recognized when you drop a PDF file into their ‘Word to PDF’ converter instead of the ‘PDF to Word’ converter, so users wouldn’t have to redo the task when they made that mistake. 

In other words: simple market segmentation for admins showed a business need that had to be accounted for, and customers are happier overall after Smallpdf implemented an informed change to their product.

Measure results

According to the Lean UX model, product and UX changes aren’t retained unless they achieve results.

Smallpdf’s changes produced:

A 75% reduction in error rate for the ‘PDF to Word’ converter

A 1% increase in NPS

Greater confidence in the team’s marketing efforts

"With all the changes said and done, we've cut our original error rate in four, which is huge. We increased our NPS by +1%, which isn't huge, but it means that of the users who received a file, they were still slightly happier than before, even if they didn't notice that anything special happened at all.”

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Market research (or marketing research) is any set of techniques used to gather information and better understand a company’s target market. This might include primary research on brand awareness and customer satisfaction or secondary market research on market size and competitive analysis. Businesses use this information to design better products, improve user experience, and craft a marketing strategy that attracts quality leads and improves conversion rates.

David Darmanin, one of Hotjar’s founders, launched two startups before Hotjar took off—but both companies crashed and burned. Each time, he and his team spent months trying to design an amazing new product and user experience, but they failed because they didn’t have a clear understanding of what the market demanded.

With Hotjar, they did things differently . Long story short, they conducted market research in the early stages to figure out what consumers really wanted, and the team made (and continues to make) constant improvements based on market and user research.

Without market research, it’s impossible to understand your users. Sure, you might have a general idea of who they are and what they need, but you have to dig deep if you want to win their loyalty.

Here’s why research matters:

Obsessing over your users is the only way to win. If you don’t care deeply about them, you’ll lose potential customers to someone who does.

Analytics gives you the ‘what’, while research gives you the ‘why’. Big data, user analytics , and dashboards can tell you what people do at scale, but only research can tell you what they’re thinking and why they do what they do. For example, analytics can tell you that customers leave when they reach your pricing page, but only research can explain why.

Research beats assumptions, trends, and so-called best practices. Have you ever watched your colleagues rally behind a terrible decision? Bad ideas are often the result of guesswork, emotional reasoning, death by best practices , and defaulting to the Highest Paid Person’s Opinion (HiPPO). By listening to your users and focusing on their customer experience , you’re less likely to get pulled in the wrong direction.

Research keeps you from planning in a vacuum. Your team might be amazing, but you and your colleagues simply can’t experience your product the way your customers do. Customers might use your product in a way that surprises you, and product features that seem obvious to you might confuse them. Over-planning and refusing to test your assumptions is a waste of time, money, and effort because you’ll likely need to make changes once your untested business plan gets put into practice.

Lean User Experience (UX) design is a model for continuous improvement that relies on quick, efficient research to understand customer needs and test new product features.

Lean market research can help you become more...

Efficient: it gets you closer to your customers, faster.

Cost-effective: no need to hire an expensive marketing firm to get things started.

Competitive: quick, powerful insights can place your products on the cutting edge.

As a small business or sole proprietor, conducting lean market research is an attractive option when investing in a full-blown research project might seem out of scope or budget.

There are lots of different ways you could conduct market research and collect customer data, but you don’t have to limit yourself to just one research method. Four common types of market research techniques include surveys, interviews, focus groups, and customer observation.

Which method you use may vary based on your business type: ecommerce business owners have different goals from SaaS businesses, so it’s typically prudent to mix and match these methods based on your particular goals and what you need to know.

1. Surveys: the most commonly used

Surveys are a form of qualitative research that ask respondents a short series of open- or closed-ended questions, which can be delivered as an on-screen questionnaire or via email. When we asked 2,000 Customer Experience (CX) professionals about their company’s approach to research , surveys proved to be the most commonly used market research technique.

What makes online surveys so popular?  

They’re easy and inexpensive to conduct, and you can do a lot of data collection quickly. Plus, the data is pretty straightforward to analyze, even when you have to analyze open-ended questions whose answers might initially appear difficult to categorize.

We've built a number of survey templates ready and waiting for you. Grab a template and share with your customers in just a few clicks.

💡 Pro tip: you can also get started with Hotjar AI for Surveys to create a survey in mere seconds . Just enter your market research goal and watch as the AI generates a survey and populates it with relevant questions. 

Once you’re ready for data analysis, the AI will prepare an automated research report that succinctly summarizes key findings, quotes, and suggested next steps.

An example research report generated by Hotjar AI for Surveys

2. Interviews: the most insightful

Interviews are one-on-one conversations with members of your target market. Nothing beats a face-to-face interview for diving deep (and reading non-verbal cues), but if an in-person meeting isn’t possible, video conferencing is a solid second choice.

Regardless of how you conduct it, any type of in-depth interview will produce big benefits in understanding your target customers.

What makes interviews so insightful?

By speaking directly with an ideal customer, you’ll gain greater empathy for their experience , and you can follow insightful threads that can produce plenty of 'Aha!' moments.

3. Focus groups: the most unreliable

Focus groups bring together a carefully selected group of people who fit a company’s target market. A trained moderator leads a conversation surrounding the product, user experience, or marketing message to gain deeper insights.

What makes focus groups so unreliable?

If you’re new to market research, we wouldn’t recommend starting with focus groups. Doing it right is expensive , and if you cut corners, your research could fall victim to all kinds of errors. Dominance bias (when a forceful participant influences the group) and moderator style bias (when different moderator personalities bring about different results in the same study) are two of the many ways your focus group data could get skewed.

4. Observation: the most powerful

During a customer observation session, someone from the company takes notes while they watch an ideal user engage with their product (or a similar product from a competitor).

What makes observation so clever and powerful?

‘Fly-on-the-wall’ observation is a great alternative to focus groups. It’s not only less expensive, but you’ll see people interact with your product in a natural setting without influencing each other. The only downside is that you can’t get inside their heads, so observation still isn't a recommended replacement for customer surveys and interviews.

The following questions will help you get to know your users on a deeper level when you interview them. They’re general questions, of course, so don’t be afraid to make them your own.

1. Who are you and what do you do?

How you ask this question, and what you want to know, will vary depending on your business model (e.g. business-to-business marketing is usually more focused on someone’s profession than business-to-consumer marketing).

It’s a great question to start with, and it’ll help you understand what’s relevant about your user demographics (age, race, gender, profession, education, etc.), but it’s not the be-all-end-all of market research. The more specific questions come later.

2. What does your day look like?

This question helps you understand your users’ day-to-day life and the challenges they face. It will help you gain empathy for them, and you may stumble across something relevant to their buying habits.

3. Do you ever purchase [product/service type]?

This is a ‘yes or no’ question. A ‘yes’ will lead you to the next question.

4. What problem were you trying to solve or what goal were you trying to achieve?

This question strikes to the core of what someone’s trying to accomplish and why they might be willing to pay for your solution.

5. Take me back to the day when you first decided you needed to solve this kind of problem or achieve this goal.

This is the golden question, and it comes from Adele Revella, Founder and CEO of Buyer Persona Institute . It helps you get in the heads of your users and figure out what they were thinking the day they decided to spend money to solve a problem.

If you take your time with this question, digging deeper where it makes sense, you should be able to answer all the relevant information you need to understand their perspective.

“The only scripted question I want you to ask them is this one: take me back to the day when you first decided that you needed to solve this kind of problem or achieve this kind of a goal. Not to buy my product, that’s not the day. We want to go back to the day that when you thought it was urgent and compelling to go spend money to solve a particular problem or achieve a goal. Just tell me what happened.”

— Adele Revella , Founder/CEO at Buyer Persona Institute

Bonus question: is there anything else you’d like to tell me?

This question isn’t just a nice way to wrap it up—it might just give participants the opportunity they need to tell you something you really need to know.

That’s why Sarah Doody, author of UX Notebook , adds it to the end of her written surveys.

“I always have a last question, which is just open-ended: “Is there anything else you would like to tell me?” And sometimes, that’s where you get four paragraphs of amazing content that you would never have gotten if it was just a Net Promoter Score [survey] or something like that.”

What is the difference between qualitative and quantitative research?

Qualitative research asks questions that can’t be reduced to a number, such as, “What is your job title?” or “What did you like most about your customer service experience?” 

Quantitative research asks questions that can be answered with a numeric value, such as, “What is your annual salary?” or “How was your customer service experience on a scale of 1-5?”

 → Read more about the differences between qualitative and quantitative user research .

How do I do my own market research?

You can do your own quick and effective market research by 

Surveying your customers

Building user personas

Studying your users through interviews and observation

Wrapping your head around your data with tools like flow models, affinity diagrams, and customer journey maps

What is the difference between market research and user research?

Market research takes a broad look at potential customers—what problems they’re trying to solve, their buying experience, and overall demand. User research, on the other hand, is more narrowly focused on the use (and usability ) of specific products.

What are the main criticisms of market research?

Many marketing professionals are critical of market research because it can be expensive and time-consuming. It’s often easier to convince your CEO or CMO to let you do lean market research rather than something more extensive because you can do it yourself. It also gives you quick answers so you can stay ahead of the competition.

Do I need a market research firm to get reliable data?

Absolutely not! In fact, we recommend that you start small and do it yourself in the beginning. By following a lean market research strategy, you can uncover some solid insights about your clients. Then you can make changes, test them out, and see whether the results are positive. This is an excellent strategy for making quick changes and remaining competitive.

Net Promoter, Net Promoter System, Net Promoter Score, NPS, and the NPS-related emoticons are registered trademarks of Bain & Company, Inc., Fred Reichheld, and Satmetrix Systems, Inc.

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In today's competitive global economy, market research is an essential tool. It's what helps entrepreneurs refine their startup ideas to have the best odds of success. And it's also what established businesses use to explore the viability of new products and services. In short, modern businesses rarely make a move without doing market research first.

That makes the skills of market research analysts quite valuable in today's job market. But learning how to be a market research analyst isn't as straightforward as you might think. And that's because it's a discipline that's part science and part art form – meaning you'll need to develop a diverse skill set to be good at the job.

Here are the essential skills of a market research analyst.

Data Analysis Skills

At its heart, market research involves the collection of large amounts of data , which you then mine for useful insights about a given line of business or industry. And that means that data analysis is the most important part of the job of a market research analyst.

Specifically, market research analysts must understand four specific data analysis types, which are:

Descriptive Data Analysis – Techniques to organize and categorize historical data to identify existing trends. This is often used to quantify the results of past business practices in raw terms (like the number of sales, products manufactured, site visits, etc.).

Diagnostic Data Analysis – Techniques to compare data sets that help identify causal relationships. For example, if a descriptive analysis revealed increasing sales over a given period, a diagnostic analysis would seek the reason for the change (such as a marketing campaign, a price change, or an external trend).

Predictive Data Analysis – Techniques that use existing data to forecast future trends and outcomes. This often involves complex mathematical models and the application of machine learning algorithms to extract meaningful predictions from available data sets.

Prescriptive Data Analysis – A more advanced form of predictive analysis, prescriptive analysis attempts to forecast potential outcomes that result from hypothetical changes to business practices. An existing business might use this to determine if ending production of a particular product might have unintended consequences, or if the launch of a new product might make others redundant.

Data Collection Skills

Even though market research analysts often work with data that businesses already have on hand, they're frequently called upon to collect new data, as well. And that means they need to be skilled in a variety of data collection techniques, too. These include:

Interpersonal and Interview Skills – Market research analysts often use focus groups and customer interviews to collect specific data to use in their work. But getting usable data means having a high level of interpersonal skills and interview skills . This is critical to extract usable information that's free of potential biases.

Survey Creation – Market research analysts must know how to create scientifically valid surveys to focus in on the information they're hoping to gather. They also have to be familiar with using form builder software to create and publish digital versions of the surveys they create.

Data Curation – This refers to the skills needed to manage collected data and distill it down to what's useful for market research purposes. In other words, it means knowing how to eliminate irrelevant data and prepare what's left for the process of market research.

Communication Skills

One of the major purposes of market research is to uncover business insights that inform strategy. But data alone isn't always enough in a business context. And that's why a market research analyst needs strong communication skills , too. This allows them to communicate the significance of their findings to stakeholders, who may then use them in their decision-making processes. Without those skills, they'd be unable to function effectively within a business's hierarchy.

Data Visualization Skills

In addition to communication skills, market research analysts must understand how to create compelling data visualizations that aid in communicating their findings to others. Data visualizations are graphic representations of datasets, aimed at highlighting relevant trends or takeaways from the data. They make it possible for stakeholders without a background in data analysis to see and understand the work that a market research analyst does.

Knowledge of Human Behavior and Psychology

Since the role of a market research analyst is to understand how consumers will act and react to products, services, and business strategies, they need a deep understanding of human behavior and psychology. This is because market research doesn't always yield clear answers to every business question. And that's where the role of a market research analyst comes much closer to being an art form than a science.

Market research analysts have to use their knowledge of psychology to design appropriate investigations that will yield useful insight. This means they need a sharp sense of intuition and insight into consumer behavior. Otherwise, there would be no way to narrow down possible areas of inquiry. The knowledge provides valuable context and allows the market researcher to make baseline assumptions that guide their work.

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Our eBooks are ideal for anyone who wants to learn about or develop their interpersonal skills and are full of easy-to-follow, practical information.

The Bottom Line

At the end of the day, the role of a market research analyst revolves around data. And that's what makes data analysis skills so crucial to the job. But unlike the role of a data scientist , a market research analyst must also know how to collect useful data through field research and direct consumer contact. They also have to understand the mind of the consumer. In other words, they must know their subjects as more than just raw numbers and data points.

All these skills allow market research analysts to provide the valuable insights that modern businesses now depend on. They reduce the number of costly errors that businesses make when they approach decisions without the appropriate information. And they deliver better and more relevant products and experiences to consumers. That said, it should be no wonder that market research analysts are so in demand in today's job market. And now you know exactly what skills to develop if you want to be one of them.

About the Author

Philip Piletic closely follows the impact of technology on education, and its evolution from traditional to modern methods that include e-learning, courses, gamification, and others. He has also helped the Sydney-based IT & Business school in developing their IT courses.

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Home / Online Bachelor’s Degree Programs / Online Bachelor of Science in Marketing Degree / Marketing Careers for Bachelor’s in Marketing Graduates / How to Become a Market Research Analyst: Steps and Skills

How to Become a Market Research Analyst How to Become a Market Research Analyst How to Become a Market Research Analyst

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An increasing number of companies across varied industries rely on market research and statistical data to make informed decisions and carry out effective plans. This has made the market research analyst role indispensable in many organizations.

Students who are interested in entering the profession should know that educational investment is crucial. In addition to  earning the right degree  to become a market research analyst, they also need to develop the right set of skills and gain sufficient working experience.

What Does a Market Research Analyst Do?

Market research analysts help companies understand target markets. They do this through in-depth studies of market trends, market conditions, consumer buying behaviors, and other related metrics. Having a comprehensive understanding of these areas allows companies to devise the right products and identify which consumers are likely to purchase those products at certain prices. Market research analysts may accomplish this through questionnaires, interviews, and market analysis, among other strategies. These professionals are also skilled in researching and analyzing competitors.

Market Research Analyst Degree Path

Market research analysts are vital to helping a business target the right consumers and optimize growth strategies. Earning a degree in marketing, business analytics, or a related field can help individuals on their path toward becoming a market research analyst. Gaining professional experience and honing the skills that are considered fundamental for the role are also important.

Collectively, these steps can equip individuals with a foundation in the necessary skills and knowledge to be successful in the career. Just as importantly, they can help individuals understand how best to apply what they’ve learned to an individual company’s goals.

Market Research Analyst Education Requirements

Typically, the market research analyst role requires a minimum of a bachelor’s degree. There are a number of relevant undergraduate degrees, with the most useful offering a deeper understanding of core concepts related to market research analysis, including consumer behavior, target audience identification, and strategic planning.

Those who are interested in an advanced career in market research analysis should consider pursuing a master’s degree. This isn’t a requirement to enter the field, but some employers may prefer candidates with an advanced degree, especially for senior and managerial roles.

How to Become a Market Research Analyst

There are essential steps to becoming a market research analyst, including obtaining the right bachelor’s degree and considering a  master’s degree  for possible higher-level positions. Market research analysts also need several years of work experience to become certified as professional market researchers.

Step 1: Earn a Bachelor’s Degree

Students can begin their paths by earning a bachelor’s in fields such as  marketing ,  business administration , or  psychology . Each of these degrees, in different ways, provides valuable insights, enabling future market research analysts to assess consumer buying behaviors and preferences.

Specifically, a degree in marketing is valuable, since the coursework incorporates business theories and policies, marketing, and the study of consumer behaviors. A bachelor’s in business administration provides a foundation in financial accounting, economics, business law, and statistics. A degree in psychology, on the other hand, allows students to study human nature and behaviors from perspectives that incorporate fundamental concepts such as cognition, multiculturalism, critical thinking, and development through the lifespan.

Step 2: Build On-the-Job Experience

Advancing to the role of market research analyst usually requires at least a few years of industry experience, working in a role such as marketing assistant or account representative. This background helps gain access to greater job opportunities — such as becoming a market research analyst — as well as assists in qualifying for particular certifications. Market research analysts usually work full time, although certain job demands, such as time-sensitive marketing campaigns, may require them to work additional hours.

Step 3: Earn a Master’s Degree (Optional)

To qualify for higher-level positions, market research analysts should consider pursuing a master’s degree. There are degrees that focus specifically on market research analysis related fields, such as marketing, market research, or data analytics; however, professionals may also choose to earn a  Master of Business Administration (MBA) .

In addition to opening greater career opportunities, a master’s degree can also serve as a valuable tool in obtaining the Insights Professional Certification, or IPC. This designation is administered by the Insights Association. To qualify, applicants need to take and pass a test and possess at least three years of work experience. Certified researchers who plan to renew their credentials, which is required every two years, must complete 20 hours of continuing education.

What Skills Does a Market Research Analyst Need?

In addition to building job experience and obtaining the right education, market research analysts need specific soft skills to succeed in the field.

The ability to analyze huge amounts of data is a must, considering that research and information analysis are at the heart of the job. In terms of choosing the right marketing strategies for any given company, critical-thinking abilities also come into play.

Finally, market research analysts need exceptional communication skills. Those interested in becoming market research analysts need to develop oral and written communication skills, as the role typically involves frequent presentations and interactions with clients, team members, consumer audiences, and other stakeholders.

Market Research Analyst Salaries and Job Outlook

According to the BLS, the median salary for a market research analyst in 2020 was $65,810. Several factors contribute to precise salary levels, such as overall professional experience and the position’s location.

In addition, the BLS projects 18% growth for this job between 2019 and 2029. This rate is significantly higher than the 4% average employment growth for all other occupations over the same 10-year period. By 2029, the BLS estimates that as many as 130,300 additional market research analyst jobs will be created.

Several factors contribute to this impressive growth in market research analyst jobs. Companies are relying to a greater degree on data and research to effectively target consumers. The ability to reach the right customers, due to more effective marketing and advertising strategies, leads to an increase in business profits.

The BLS further reports that job applicants with strong backgrounds in statistics and data analysis, as well as those with a master’s degree in marketing or business administration, are likely to have better employment opportunities.

Start Your Journey to Becoming a Market Research Analyst Today

If you have a passion for understanding marketing research, statistical data, and human psychology, a career as a market research analyst might be an excellent choice.

There is no better time than now to invest in your future. Earning a degree in a field such as marketing, statistics, analytics, psychology, or business administration can be a step in the right direction to becoming a market research analyst.

Maryville University offers online  bachelor’s  and  master’s  degrees in a range of fields including  marketing ,  psychology , and  business administration . These rigorous academic degree programs are designed to fit into students’ busy lifestyles, which may include family obligations and full-time jobs.

Be brave. Take the first step today toward an exciting career as a market research analyst.

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Bring us your ambition and we’ll guide you along a personalized path to a quality education that’s designed to change your life.

Top 12 Market Researcher Skills to Put on Your Resume

In today's competitive job market, standing out as a market researcher requires a blend of technical expertise and soft skills. A well-crafted resume that showcases the top market researcher skills can significantly enhance your chances of landing your desired position, demonstrating to potential employers your ability to uncover insights and drive business decisions.

Market Researcher Skills

• Google Analytics
• SurveyMonkey

SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) is a software tool used by market researchers for data management, statistical analysis, and visualization, facilitating insights into market trends and consumer behavior.

Why It's Important

SPSS is important for a Market Researcher because it offers advanced statistical analysis, data management, and visualization capabilities, enabling precise insights and decision-making based on market data.

How to Improve SPSS Skills

Improving your proficiency with SPSS for market research involves enhancing data analysis skills, understanding advanced statistical methods, and streamlining data management processes. Here's a concise guide to help you:

Enhance Data Analysis Skills : Familiarize yourself with SPSS's wide array of data analysis capabilities. Start with basics and gradually move to complex analyses. IBM's official SPSS tutorials provide a good starting point.

Learn Advanced Statistical Methods : Delve deeper into statistical methods relevant to market research such as regression analysis, factor analysis, and cluster analysis. Online courses on platforms like Coursera or Udemy often offer specialized training.

Improve Data Management : Efficient data management is crucial. Learn to use SPSS syntax for repetitive tasks, which saves time and reduces errors. The UCLA IDRE resource is a great place to learn about SPSS syntax and data management.

Use Add-Ons and Extensions : Explore SPSS add-ons and extensions for market research-specific analyses. IBM's SPSS Extensions Hub offers various plugins and extensions that can enhance your SPSS capabilities.

Stay Updated : Keep up with the latest updates and features in SPSS. IBM often updates SPSS with new functionalities. Regularly check the IBM SPSS Software page for updates and new features.

Join SPSS Communities : Engage with SPSS user communities for insights, tips, and tricks. Platforms like SPSSX Discussion and ResearchGate are valuable for peer support and learning.

By focusing on these areas, you can significantly improve your SPSS skills tailored to market research needs.

How to Display SPSS Skills on Your Resume

2. Qualtrics

Qualtrics is a sophisticated online survey software and experience management platform that enables market researchers to design, distribute, and analyze surveys to gather valuable consumer insights and data for strategic decision-making.

Qualtrics is important for a Market Researcher because it provides a comprehensive platform for designing, distributing, and analyzing surveys, enabling the collection of valuable consumer insights and data to inform strategic decision-making and market understanding.

How to Improve Qualtrics Skills

To improve Qualtrics for a Market Researcher, consider the following concise strategies:

Customize Surveys: Utilize the Qualtrics library to access a wide range of question types and templates. Tailor surveys to match your research needs and brand identity for better response rates.

Advanced Analytics: Leverage Qualtrics' advanced analytics tools to perform detailed data analysis. Use predictive intelligence and statistical analysis to gain deeper insights from your survey data.

Integrate Data Sources: Use the Qualtrics API to integrate external data sources. This allows for richer data analysis and a more comprehensive understanding of your market research findings.

Automate Processes: Implement Qualtrics' workflow automation features to streamline data collection and analysis. Automate tasks such as survey distribution and follow-ups to increase efficiency.

Utilize Dashboards: Create interactive dashboards using Qualtrics XM to visualize your data in real-time. Share insights with stakeholders in an accessible format for informed decision-making.

Continuous Learning: Stay updated with the latest features and best practices through the Qualtrics XM Basecamp and Qualtrics Community for tips, tricks, and support from the user community.

By implementing these strategies, a Market Researcher can significantly enhance the functionality and efficiency of their Qualtrics platform for more effective market research.

How to Display Qualtrics Skills on Your Resume

Tableau is a powerful data visualization tool used by market researchers to analyze and present data through interactive and shareable dashboards, helping uncover insights and trends to inform decision-making.

Tableau is important for a Market Researcher because it provides powerful visualization tools to analyze complex datasets, uncover insights, and present findings in an understandable and engaging manner, facilitating data-driven decision-making.

How to Improve Tableau Skills

Improving your Tableau skills as a Market Researcher involves focusing on data visualization, analysis techniques, and staying updated with the latest Tableau features. Here’s a concise guide:

Learn Advanced Visualization Techniques: Understand how to create and use advanced charts and graphs that are most effective for market research data. Tableau's Advanced Charts and Graphs guide is a great resource.

Master Calculations and Analytics: Deepen your knowledge of Tableau's calculated fields and analytics features to derive more insights from your data. The Tableau Calculations Tutorial can help.

Incorporate External Data Sources: Learn to integrate external databases and web data connectors for richer, more comprehensive market insights. Connecting to Data in Tableau provides instructions.

Stay Updated with New Features: Tableau regularly updates its platform. Keeping abreast with these updates can significantly improve your capabilities. Explore What’s New in Tableau .

Utilize Tableau Public: Share your visualizations with the community for feedback, and learn from others. Visit Tableau Public for inspiration.

Participate in Training and Certification: Consider official Tableau Training and Certification to enhance your skills further. Check out Tableau Training and Certification for courses tailored to different expertise levels.

Join Tableau Community Forums: Engage with other Tableau users, ask questions, and share knowledge. The Tableau Community Forums are invaluable for quick tips and solutions.

By focusing on these areas, you can significantly improve your Tableau skills, making your market research more insightful and impactful.

How to Display Tableau Skills on Your Resume

Python is a versatile and widely-used programming language, favored for its simplicity and efficiency in data analysis, automation, and integrating systems, making it a valuable tool for market research tasks.

Python is important for a Market Researcher because it offers powerful data analysis and visualization tools, enabling efficient handling of large datasets, insightful trend analysis, and clear reporting, thus enhancing decision-making processes.

How to Improve Python Skills

To improve your Python skills as a Market Researcher, focus on these concise steps:

Learn the Basics Properly :

• Master Python syntax and basic concepts such as variables, data types, conditionals, and loops. Codecademy’s Python Course is a good starting point.

Understand Data Handling :

• Get comfortable with pandas for data manipulation and analysis. Practice by working on real datasets. Pandas Getting Started Tutorials are very helpful.

Master Data Visualization :

• Learn to use libraries like Matplotlib and Seaborn to visualize data for insights. Matplotlib Tutorials and Seaborn’s Gallery will guide you.

Apply Statistics and Machine Learning :

• Use libraries such as NumPy, SciPy for statistical analysis, and Scikit-learn for machine learning. Scikit-learn’s User Guide is a comprehensive resource.

Work on Projects :

• Apply your skills on market research projects or Kaggle competitions to solve real-world problems. Kaggle offers a plethora of datasets and challenges.

Stay Updated and Network :

• Join Python and data science communities on platforms like Stack Overflow and LinkedIn to stay updated on the latest trends and network with professionals.

Continuous Learning :

• The field is always evolving, so make use of online resources like Coursera and edX to keep learning new tools and techniques in Python and data analysis.

By following these steps and consistently practicing, you’ll significantly improve your Python skills tailored to market research.

How to Display Python Skills on Your Resume

R is a programming language and free software environment used for statistical computing and graphics, widely utilized by market researchers for data analysis, visualization, and statistical modeling.

R is important for a Market Researcher because it provides powerful and flexible statistical analysis and data visualization capabilities, enabling deep insights into market trends, customer behavior, and predictive modeling, all crucial for making informed business decisions.

How to Improve R Skills

Improving your R skills, especially for Market Research applications, involves both broadening your understanding of R's capabilities and deepening your expertise in specific, relevant packages and methodologies. Here are concise steps with resources to guide you:

Master the Basics : Ensure a strong foundation in R basics. The R for Data Science book is an excellent resource, covering data manipulation, visualization, and basic statistical analysis.

Learn Tidyverse : Tidyverse is a collection of R packages designed for data science. It simplifies many R tasks. Start with the Tidyverse website for a comprehensive guide.

Understand Data Visualization : Effective visualization is key. Master ggplot2, a part of Tidyverse, through the book ggplot2: Elegant Graphics for Data Analysis .

Specialize in Market Research Techniques : Delve into packages and techniques specific to market research, such as conjoint analysis with the conjoint package and segmentation using factoextra for cluster analysis. Explore relevant CRAN Task Views or the CRAN Market Research section.

Improve Data Manipulation Skills : Data manipulation is crucial. Get proficient with dplyr and tidyr for cleaning and preparing data. The Data Transformation with dplyr chapter is a good start.

Learn Shiny for Interactive Apps : Shiny allows you to build interactive web applications directly from R. It's useful for sharing insights within your organization. Start with the official Shiny tutorial .

Stay Updated : The R landscape is always evolving. Follow blogs like R-bloggers and join the RStudio Community to stay informed about the latest packages and techniques.

Practice on Real Data : Apply your skills to real market research datasets. Websites like Kaggle offer a plethora of datasets to practice on, along with competitions to test your skills.

Contribute to Open Source : Consider contributing to an open-source project on GitHub . It's a great way to learn from others and improve your coding style and efficiency.

By following these steps and utilizing the linked resources, you can significantly improve your R skills, making you a more effective and efficient market researcher.

How to Display R Skills on Your Resume

SAS (Statistical Analysis System) is a software suite used for advanced analytics, business intelligence, data management, and predictive analysis, enabling market researchers to analyze complex data, identify trends, and make data-driven decisions.

SAS (Statistical Analysis System) is crucial for Market Researchers due to its powerful data management, statistical analysis, and reporting capabilities. It enables them to efficiently process large datasets, uncover insights through sophisticated analytics, and make data-driven decisions to inform market strategies.

How to Improve SAS Skills

Improving your SAS (Statistical Analysis System) skills as a Market Researcher involves enhancing your capability to manage, analyze, and interpret data efficiently. Focus on these key areas:

Master the Basics : Ensure a solid understanding of SAS basics. SAS offers free e-learning courses that are perfect for beginners.

Learn Data Manipulation Techniques : Efficiently manage and prepare your data for analysis. The SAS Data Management page provides insights and tools.

Statistical Analysis Proficiency : Deepen your statistical analysis skills. Explore SAS/STAT software for advanced analytics.

Visualization Skills : Enhance your ability to present data compellingly. Look into SAS Visual Analytics for dynamic data visualization tools.

Macro & Automation : Learn to write SAS macros to automate repetitive tasks, improving efficiency. The SAS Macro Language documentation is a good starting point.

Stay Updated : SAS evolves constantly. Keep abreast of the latest features and techniques by visiting the SAS Support Communities .

Practice : Apply your skills to real-world datasets. Websites like Kaggle offer datasets and challenges that can provide practical experience.

By focusing on these areas and leveraging the resources provided, you'll significantly improve your SAS skills and enhance your value as a Market Researcher.

How to Display SAS Skills on Your Resume

Excel is a spreadsheet software used by market researchers for organizing, analyzing, and visualizing data to support decision-making processes.

Excel is crucial for market researchers because it facilitates efficient data organization, analysis, and visualization, enabling the extraction of actionable insights from complex datasets.

How to Improve Excel Skills

Improving your Excel skills as a Market Researcher involves mastering data analysis, visualization, and automation techniques to efficiently analyze market trends and make informed decisions. Here are concise steps and resources:

Advanced Formulas : Master complex formulas like INDEX-MATCH, INDIRECT, and array formulas to manipulate and analyze data efficiently. ExcelJet's Formula List provides a comprehensive guide.

Pivot Tables : Learn to quickly summarize large data sets into meaningful reports. Microsoft's PivotTable Guide offers a solid starting point.

Data Visualization : Enhance your ability to present data through advanced charts and graphs. Chandoo's Charting Techniques offers innovative ways to visualize data.

Power Query : Use Power Query to automate the process of importing, transforming, and integrating data from various sources. Excel's Power Query Overview is a helpful resource.

Power Pivot : Gain insights into large data sets with Power Pivot, creating complex models and relationships. Microsoft's Power Pivot Tutorial provides a comprehensive introduction.

Macros & VBA : Automate repetitive tasks and custom analyses with VBA scripting. Excel Macro Mastery is a great resource to learn from.

Excel Shortcuts : Increase your efficiency with keyboard shortcuts. Excel Shortcut List helps speed up your workflow.

Courses and Certifications : Consider taking advanced Excel courses or obtaining certifications. Coursera and Udemy offer courses tailored to various skill levels.

By focusing on these areas and utilizing the provided resources, you'll significantly enhance your Excel capabilities, making you a more effective and efficient market researcher.

How to Display Excel Skills on Your Resume

SQL (Structured Query Language) is a programming language used for managing and manipulating databases, allowing market researchers to efficiently organize, retrieve, and analyze data to uncover insights and trends.

SQL is crucial for a Market Researcher because it enables efficient querying, manipulation, and analysis of large datasets to extract actionable insights, trends, and patterns critical for making informed business decisions.

How to Improve SQL Skills

Improving your SQL skills, especially as a Market Researcher, involves understanding and mastering both the fundamentals and advanced aspects of SQL. Here are concise steps and resources:

Learn the Basics : Start with SQL syntax, basic queries, and understanding how databases work. W3Schools offers a great starting point.

Practice Regularly : Apply what you learn on platforms like LeetCode or SQLZoo , which offer a variety of problems to solve.

Understand Data Analysis Functions : Focus on functions and operations important for data analysis, such as aggregate functions, JOIN operations, and window functions. The Mode Analytics SQL Tutorial is particularly useful for data analysis.

Learn to Optimize Queries : Understanding indexing, query execution plans, and how to optimize SQL queries for performance is crucial. Use The Index, Luke is a great resource for learning about indexing and query optimization.

Explore Advanced SQL : Delve into stored procedures, triggers, and complex queries. PostgreSQL’s official documentation offers insights into advanced features, which, despite being PostgreSQL-specific, can provide a good understanding of advanced SQL concepts.

Stay Updated and Join Communities : SQL standards and best practices evolve. Join communities like Stack Overflow or Reddit’s r/SQL to stay updated and get help.

Implement in Real-Life Projects : Apply your skills in market research projects, using SQL for data manipulation, analysis, and reporting. Real-life application solidifies learning and uncovers areas needing improvement.

By following these steps and utilizing these resources, you’ll enhance your SQL capabilities, thereby significantly contributing to your efficiency and effectiveness as a Market Researcher.

How to Display SQL Skills on Your Resume

9. Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a web analytics service that tracks and reports website traffic, providing insights into user behavior, which is essential for market research and understanding audience preferences.

Google Analytics is crucial for a Market Researcher as it provides detailed insights into user behavior, traffic sources, and engagement metrics, enabling data-driven decisions to optimize marketing strategies and improve user experience.

How to Improve Google Analytics Skills

Improving Google Analytics for a Market Researcher involves:

Setting Clear Objectives : Define what you want to achieve with your data. Focus on specific goals like increasing conversion rates or understanding user behavior.

Utilizing Custom Dashboards : Create custom dashboards for a quick overview of the data most relevant to your market research goals. Google's Custom Dashboard Solutions guide provides a starting point.

Segmentation : Use segmentation to dissect your data for more nuanced insights. For instance, segment users by demographics, behavior, or traffic sources. Google Analytics Segmentation Guide offers detailed instructions.

Integrating Google Analytics with Other Tools : Enhance your insights by integrating Google Analytics with tools like Google Ads, CRM systems, or Google Search Console. For Google Ads integration, see Link Google Ads and Analytics.

Leveraging Enhanced Ecommerce : If relevant, use the Enhanced Ecommerce features for deeper insights into user shopping behavior and product performance. The Enhanced Ecommerce Guide provides comprehensive information on setup and analysis.

Utilizing Event Tracking : Implement event tracking to understand how users interact with your website beyond page views, such as downloads, video plays, and link clicks. The Event Tracking Guide can help you get started.

Regular Audits and Data Cleanup : Regularly audit your Google Analytics setup to ensure data accuracy and relevance. This includes reviewing tracking codes, filters, and configurations. Google's Best Practices for Analytics provides a checklist.

Continuous Learning and Experimentation : Stay updated with Google Analytics features and best practices. Google offers free courses at Google Analytics Academy .

By focusing on these areas, a market researcher can significantly enhance the utility and accuracy of insights derived from Google Analytics, leading to more informed decision-making.

How to Display Google Analytics Skills on Your Resume

10. Power BI

Power BI is a data visualization and business intelligence tool that enables market researchers to analyze data, uncover insights, and create interactive reports and dashboards for informed decision-making.

Power BI is important for a Market Researcher because it enables efficient analysis and visualization of market data, facilitating informed decision-making and strategic insights through interactive reports and dashboards.

How to Improve Power BI Skills

To improve Power BI skills for a Market Researcher, focus on these concise strategies:

Master DAX : Deepen your understanding of Data Analysis Expressions (DAX) for more sophisticated data manipulation. DAX Guide is an excellent resource.

Learn M Query : Enhance your data transformation skills in Power Query using M language. Microsoft’s M Language documentation offers comprehensive guidance.

Data Visualization Best Practices : Study best practices in data visualization to make compelling reports. Microsoft’s Power BI guidance provides useful tips.

Use Power BI Service : Familiarize yourself with the Power BI Service for sharing reports and dashboards. Explore Power BI Service documentation for insights.

Incorporate External Data : Learn to integrate external data sources for richer insights. The Power BI Desktop documentation covers various data connection methods.

Stay Updated : Follow the Power BI Blog for the latest features and updates. The Power BI Blog is a valuable resource for staying current.

Engage with the Community : Join Power BI communities for tips, tricks, and support. The Power BI Community forum is a great place to start.

By focusing on these areas, Market Researchers can significantly enhance their Power BI skills for more effective data analysis and reporting.

How to Display Power BI Skills on Your Resume

11. SurveyMonkey

SurveyMonkey is an online survey tool that allows market researchers to design, distribute, and analyze surveys to gather data and insights from targeted audiences.

SurveyMonkey is important for a Market Researcher because it offers an easy-to-use platform for designing, distributing, and analyzing surveys, enabling efficient collection of data and insights from targeted audiences to inform market trends, preferences, and decision-making processes.

How to Improve SurveyMonkey Skills

Improving SurveyMonkey for a Market Researcher involves optimizing survey design, distribution, and data analysis capabilities. Here’s a concise guide:

Utilize Logic Features : Leverage SurveyMonkey's advanced logic options like question skip logic, question piping, and advanced branching to create dynamic surveys that adapt based on respondents' answers, ensuring more relevant data collection.

Enhance Survey Design : Use SurveyMonkey's design features to create visually appealing surveys. Incorporate your brand elements and choose a responsive design to improve the respondent's experience and increase completion rates.

Pre-Test Surveys : Conduct pre-test surveys with a small segment of your target audience to identify potential issues with question clarity and survey flow. Use SurveyMonkey’s preview and test feature to refine your survey before wide distribution.

Leverage Distribution Channels : Explore SurveyMonkey’s multiple distribution options including web links, email, social media, and embedded surveys on websites to reach your target audience effectively.

Analyze Data Efficiently : Utilize SurveyMonkey’s analysis tools for filtering, cross-tabulation, and exporting data for deeper insights. Integrate with tools like SPSS for advanced statistical analysis.

Benchmark Results : Compare your survey results against SurveyMonkey's industry benchmarks to gauge your performance against competitors and identify areas for improvement.

By integrating these strategies, a Market Researcher can significantly enhance the effectiveness of their surveys, leading to more reliable data and actionable insights.

How to Display SurveyMonkey Skills on Your Resume

NVivo is a qualitative data analysis software that enables market researchers to collect, organize, and analyze unstructured data, such as interviews, surveys, and social media content, to uncover consumer insights and trends.

NVivo is crucial for market researchers as it enables the efficient organization, analysis, and interpretation of complex qualitative data, thus enhancing the depth and accuracy of insights into consumer behaviors and preferences.

How to Improve NVivo Skills

Improving your proficiency in NVivo as a Market Researcher involves enhancing both your technical skills with the software and your ability to apply its features to market research methodologies. Here are concise steps to achieve that:

Familiarize with the Basics : Start with the official NVivo Quick Start Guide to grasp the fundamentals of importing data, coding, and querying.

Advanced Training : Enroll in NVivo Advanced Training to learn complex functions like sentiment analysis, auto-coding, and matrix coding queries, which are crucial for analyzing market research data.

Webinars and Tutorials : Regularly watch webinars and tutorials offered by QSR International. They cover diverse topics from basic operations to specific applications in market research.

Integrate with Survey Tools : Learn to integrate NVivo with survey tools like SurveyMonkey or Qualtrics. This integration guide will help you streamline the process of importing survey data directly into NVivo for analysis.

Networking and Community Engagement : Join the NVivo Community to share insights, ask questions, and learn from experienced NVivo users who specialize in market research.

Practice with Real Data : Apply what you've learned by working on real market research projects. Experiment with different types of data (text, video, social media) to understand the nuances of coding and analysis in NVivo.

Stay Updated : NVivo is regularly updated with new features. Keep an eye on the latest updates and learn how to utilize them to enhance your market research analysis.

By following these steps and regularly applying NVivo in your market research projects, you'll improve both your efficiency and the depth of analysis you're able to achieve with the software.

How to Display NVivo Skills on Your Resume

Related Career Skills

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• Clinical Researcher
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13 Key Marketing Skills to Boost Your Resume

The right marketing skills can be an asset across multiple industries.

Working in marketing can take several different forms . You might conduct customer research, design eye-catching graphics, or develop engaging content—just to name a few. Despite all those distinct functions, there are several workplace skills that typically apply to all marketing careers, and strengthening them may make you more successful over time.   

In this article, we’ll go over the top workplace and technical marketing skills and ways to incorporate these key competencies into your resume.  

Ready to dive into digital marketing?

Explore the Google Digital Marketing & E-commerce Professional Certificate to test the waters. You might fall in love with the creativity and data-driven nature of digital marketing. Start learning today with a free 7-day trial of Coursera Plus .

6 workplace marketing skills  

You tend to learn workplace skills (sometimes known as soft skills) through experience, and you can apply them to several different tasks and roles. In marketing, these six workplace skills will be important to develop and sharpen throughout your career.  

1. Creativity  

Marketing involves working with ideas—and improving them to reach new and existing customers—so all marketing roles require creativity to some extent. While some roles, like copywriter or social media coordinator, may demand more creativity than others, having a strong creative sensibility will serve you well in your marketing career. 

What this looks like:

Producing short, innovative videos for a new social media campaign 

Identifying a new way to conduct market research so your team learns something new about competitors 

Finding a new program or tool that will better track customer engagement  

2. Research 

Marketers develop savvy campaigns that encourage customers to do something—buy a product, donate to a non-profit, or add new services to their account. Knowing how to conduct both qualitative and quantitative research can help you find data that may help inform your team’s specific efforts.    

Using social media listening tools, such as Hootsuite or Buffer, to understand what customers are saying directly about a product

Conducting market research on a major competitor’s products 

Doing keyword research to make sure your content aligns with user intent 

3. Listening

In addition to the research that you conduct about customers, it’s equally important to listen to the feedback they offer: What pain points do your customers experience? What do they most enjoy about your latest products? Listening requires a good degree of empathy, and can train you to be more flexible by staying open to suggestions that shift the course of your marketing efforts.  

Paying attention to the comments customers post on social media 

Tracking site metrics to see how much time users are spending on various pages

Reviewing surveys and other qualitative data for insights 

4. Communication 

Marketers must be excellent communicators in a few different ways: with audiences, with team members, and with major stakeholders and company leaders. Being able to clearly and efficiently communicate with these different groups can not only help you succeed in your various tasks but may also help you avoid any problems that arise from poor communication.  

Responding to customers’ complaints with respect and empathy 

Drafting emails to marketing team members about an upcoming campaign launch 

Leading a presentation to company stakeholders about annual results 

Master business writing, graphic design, and business presentation skills to become a great communicator in the workplace:

5. Analytical and critical thinking 

Is this marketing campaign going well? Are we reaching our audience in the best way possible? Questions like these arise often in marketing, and it’s crucial that you develop your analytical and critical thinking skills so you can review the impact of your work and adjust it accordingly. Honing this skill can also be helpful when it comes to trends and whether your company should participate in them. 

Comparing social media metrics month by month to determine what type of post does best

Interpreting user search intent and drafting an article that gives readers something they haven’t found find from competitor sites 

Reviewing quarterly marketing campaigns and identifying what could be improved in the  future  

6. Collaboration

Marketers not only have to collaborate with team members, but oftentimes they have to collaborate with other members of a company as well. It’s not uncommon for marketers to work with software engineers, data scientists, and salespeople, among others, to develop new offerings for audiences or identify solutions to issues customers are experiencing. When you collaborate well, you actively listen to what others have to say and communicate efficiently. 

Social media team members partnering with graphic designers to ensure brand alignment on all posts using graphics or images 

Content marketing team members working with product team members to add new features to a company’s website in order to provide better information to customers

Digital marketing teams working with market research analysts to determine where, geographically, to focus specific ad targets   

7 technical marketing skills 

Marketing also requires a robust technical skill set . Given the amount of collaboration—and at times overlap—that can occur in marketing, it can be advantageous to have a well-rounded understanding of the programs and tools other roles use. For starters, it can help you communicate better with other members of your marketing team whose functions are different than yours, and it can also help you move into new or different areas of marketing as your career evolves. 

Given the number of marketing areas that require strong writing, your ability to understand messaging on both a broad and sentence level can be a huge help. Even if you don’t end up writing anything for an audience, this skill can help you contribute more constructive feedback.  

Drafting copy for social media posts, and revising it to fit each platform’s best practices  

Writing a long-form blog post about a new product offering

Reviewing a copywriter’s new landing page description for brand alignment

Take this Business Writing course, which counts toward your Effective Communication specialization from University of Colorado Boulder:

2. SEO and SEM 

Both search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM) aim to improve website visibility and traffic. Thanks to the growth of digital marketing and e-commerce platforms, having an understanding of either area can help you make more informed decisions about things like a company’s web presence, digital content, and customer needs. 

Key tools: Semrush, Conductor, Yoast 

Boost your SEO skills and strategic thinking with UC Davis' specialization:

3. CRM and marketing automation 

Marketing efforts are multifaceted because marketers engage with customers on multiple channels, including social media, email, and online ads. But with separate teams responsible typically for those efforts, things can quickly grow tangled without marketing automation or customer relationship management (CRM). This software helps track a customer’s journey and makes sure your team’s work pays off.  

Key tools: Hubspot, Mailchimp, Constant Contact, Salesforce

4. Content management system (CMS) 

Most companies have websites, which means there may be a lot of information spread over hundreds (if not thousands) of pages. A content management system (CMS) helps house all of that content so teams can make updates and add new content. Knowing how to work in some of the more common CMS platforms, listed below, can be an asset. 

Key tools: WordPress, Drupal, Contently 

5. Data collection and visualization 

Data tells many stories. A number of marketers use data collection and visualization tools to understand everything from competitors’ website traffic to customer demographics. Having some understanding of how to analyze data—or understand the data you’re looking at—can help you develop more specific insights and adjust your strategy. 

Key tools: Tableau, Looker, Zoho Analytics 

Growing your expertise in data analytics and visualization can help you get ahead:

Typically, graphic designers and user experience/user interface (UX/UI) designers are required to have design skills, but having a general understanding of things like layout, color, photo editing, and typography can be a strong addition to your overall skill set if you don’t work in those areas. You’ll be able to make informed decisions or offer specific feedback to design teams.  

Key tools: Adobe (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign), Canva, Sketch 

Add graphic design to your marketing repertoire with CalArts' two-month specialization:

7. Social media 

Social media is a major part of any company’s digital marketing strategy. Understanding the major platforms and the type of content that reaches audiences on each one can broaden your marketing prowess. Beyond that, knowing how to use social media monitoring and listening tools, can strengthen your digital skill set. In fact, an ability to use Instagram and Hootsuite were listed as two of the top 10 growing marketing skills, according to LinkedIn [ 1 ]. 

Key tools: Sprout, Hootsuite, Buffer

Learn social media marketing with Meta, which a key marketing skill in this day and age:

Put your marketing skills into action 

Now that you have a better idea about the types of skills that tend to make marketers more successful, here are a few tips to integrate them into your job search.  

Integrate your workplace marketing skills into your “previous experience” summaries or bullet points. It’s especially important to show recruiters the impact you had by quantifying your accomplishments. For example, if you’re applying for social media roles , instead of saying, “Scheduled social posts on major platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram,” go one step further and explain the engagement you achieved as a result of that work. 

Under the technical skills section of your resume, list the programs, software, and tools you know how to use. Start with the most relevant tools for the job you’re applying to. For example, if you’re applying to be a market research analyst , tell recruiters which data analysis and data visualization programs you know first, before listing other technical skills. 

During an interview, you should mention examples of your workplace skills when you discuss your past experience or answer behavioral questions, such as “Share an example of how you worked on a team.” In that case, you could touch on any collaboration you fostered, how you communicated with your team members, and even any creative problem solving that resulted in more efficiency.  

How to gain marketing skills 

There are a number of ways you can build—or strengthen—the skills you’ll need for a marketing career. Let’s go over some of the most common options. 

Teach yourself 

Read up about the latest trends and technologies being used in marketing as a starting point and identify a few new areas—or tools—that might be helpful to learn. Don’t know where to start? We’ve put together a helpful marketing blogs list . You can also finish a Guided Project on Coursera . They’re designed to be completed in two hours or less, and in that time you can gain a beginner’s level understanding of programs like PhotoShop or Tableau . 

Professional Certificates

You can take your learning one step further with a the Meta Social Media Marketing and Marketing Analytics Professional Certificates. Over six to seven months, you can build the skills necessary to pursue an entry-level role in either area. 

Earning your bachelor’s degree in marketing can help you gain important skills in a number of marketing topics and marketing-related topics—and a credential often required to advance in certain marketing roles. The University of London’s BSc in Marketing offers a global perspective on marketing, beginning with general subject courses and moving toward specialized courses. 

Learn more: What Can You Do with a Marketing Degree? 11 Career Paths

Freelance projects

Finding freelance or even volunteer projects for local organizations can help you develop the necessary marketing skills to succeed in other full-time roles. Plus, it may be something to add to your portfolio—a specific example you can show recruiters. 

Strengthen your marketing skills on Coursera

If you're interested in building key marketing skills, the top-rated Professional Certificates below are a great place to keep learning:

Learn the fundamentals of good brand management with Meta's Social Media Marketing Professional Certificate , where you'll learn about effective social media campaigns and more.

Explore digital marketing with Google's Digital Marketing and E-Commerce Professional Certificate , where you'll learn about email marketing and marketing analytics, among other topics, and get job-ready for an entry-level marketing role in less than six months.

To enhance your marketing skills, explore Meta's Marketing Analytics Professional Certificate , where you'll learn how to sort, clean, and visualize data that can inform key marketing strategies.

Article sources

1. LinkedIn. “ Top in-Demand Marketing Jobs and Training Skills ,  https://www.linkedin.com/business/marketing/blog/linkedin-ads/top-in-demand-marketing-jobs-training-skills." Accessed March 18, 2024.

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This content has been made available for informational purposes only. Learners are advised to conduct additional research to ensure that courses and other credentials pursued meet their personal, professional, and financial goals.

AI to Help Double Legal Tech Market Over Five Years, Gartner Says

By Isabel Gottlieb

The legal tech market will expand to $50 billion by 2027, driven by the generative artificial intelligence boom, according to an analysis by market research firm Gartner Inc .

That growth, up from about $23 billion in 2022, will be driven by continued law firm spending on AI legal tech, as well as in-house departments allocating more of their overall budgets to technology, said Chris Audet, chief of research in Gartner’s legal, risk and compliance leaders practice. The market size prediction, released publicly on Thursday, comes from a late-2023 analysis for Gartner clients, and the 2022 market size comes from ...

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Backgrounder: Canada Summer Jobs 2024

From: Employment and Social Development Canada

Backgrounder

Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ) is part of the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy, a horizontal federal initiative that supports youth aged 15 to 30—particularly those facing barriers to employment— to gain work experience and develop the skills they need to successfully transition into the labour market.

Program overview Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ) is part of the Youth Employment and Skills Strategy, a horizontal federal initiative that supports youth aged 15 to 30—particularly those facing barriers to employment— to gain work experience and develop the skills they need to successfully transition into the labour market. CSJ is delivered by Employment and Social Development Canada. The program supports employers to create summer jobs for youth in the not-for-profit, public, and private sectors. It includes a focus on small businesses with 50 or fewer full-time employees. CSJ provides youth with opportunities to develop and improve their skills. For some, it will be their first job experience, and it will inform their future education, training and career choices.  The program is responsive to national and local priorities as well as labour market needs. CSJ 2024 youth hiring period The hiring period for CSJ 2024 is underway and will run until July 22, 2024. More than 70,000 jobs that matter to young people and to our communities will be posted on the Job Bank website and mobile app , and will be updated on a regular basis. Young people are encouraged to keep checking for updates on placements available in their communities. Eligibility criteria Youth participants:   Eligible participants must be:

• between 15 and 30 years of age (inclusive) at the start of employment;
• Canadian citizens, permanent residents, or persons on whom refugee protection has been conferred under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act; and
• legally entitled to work according to the relevant provincial or territorial legislation and regulations.

International students are not eligible. Recent immigrants are eligible if they are Canadian citizens or permanent residents . Employers : Eligible Canadian employers can be from the not-for-profit, public and private sectors. Private sector employers must have 50 or fewer full-time employees across Canada to be eligible (full-time employees are those working 30 hours or more per week).

The employer application period is now closed for CSJ 2024. Employers interested in applying for CSJ funding next year are encouraged to open an account on the secure Grants and Contributions Online Services portal. Ineligible projects and job activities

Ineligible Canadian employers include members of the House of Commons and the Senate, federal government departments and agencies, and provincial departments and agencies.

Projects and job activities are ineligible if they:

• have activities that take place outside of Canada;
• include activities that contribute to the provision of a personal service to the employer;
• involve partisan political activities;
• involve fundraising activities to cover salary costs for the youth participant;
• restrict access to programs, services or employment, or otherwise discriminate, contrary to applicable laws, on the basis of prohibited grounds, including sex, genetic characteristics, religion, race, national or ethnic origin, colour, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression;
• advocate intolerance, discrimination or prejudice; or
• actively work to undermine or restrict a woman’s access to sexual and reproductive health services.

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