Market Research Questions You Should Be Asking

Summary

For the best possible results, it is important to follow certain guidelines when aiming to ask compelling market research questions capable of eliciting the right responses.

Now and again, certain pertinent questions about market research pop up, for example: What is market research? Why is market research important? What are the benefits of market research?

What is Market Research?

You can define market research as the systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of data about a market (which can include a company, customers, product, and/or service). What is the purpose of market research? There are many.

For example, when market research questions are properly constructed, they can help the researcher understand his target audience more, identify opportunities and challenges, and enable a company to develop optimal strategies to attain its business goals, among others.

Guidelines for Writing Your Market Research Questions

For the best possible outcomes, it is essential to follow certain steps in order to create compelling business research question examples that will generate the right responses from the population or sample. These steps may include (but aren't limited to):

1. Begin with a Clear Vision of the Desired Outcome

The vision here has to do with identifying the long-term goals or purpose of the market research effort. These long-term goals are usually premised on short and medium-term targets and objectives. An example of a market research vision or goal may be to have a customer base of one million within the next five years.

In such a scenario, the short and medium-term targets and objectives may be evolving strategies that can bring about a steady increase in your organization’s customer base. One way to know how to achieve these is to conduct effective market research that can provide you with data/information about how to maximize the utility derivable from your product or service.

Be sure to set clear objectives since they can enable you to construct questions that correspond with your goals and resonate with your clients

2. Identify the Research Problem(s)

Most research sets out to identify, analyze, and solve one or more problems. Indeed, problem-solving is one of the many benefits of market research. It is the research problem that guides the study’s scope, objectives, and methods.

For example, a company may want to conduct a survey that’ll help it identify ways of boosting customer loyalty or the best strategies to adopt when trying to enter a new market.

Some market survey examples include target market research surveys, customer service evaluation surveys, brand awareness measurement surveys, new feature or concept surveys, and competitor analysis surveys, among others.

Note that before defining the problem, you need to conduct an extensive review of the background information, the present market conditions, the limitations you are likely to face, and the research’s expected outcomes.

3. Identify Your Target Audience

Each target audience is characterized by demographic considerations such as age range, race, gender, marital status, level of education, geographic location, income level, consumption habits, social class, and more.

The target audience is important because it is the segment most likely to purchase your products and/or services. Identifying the target audience helps direct the research and ensure that the findings capture the needs and preferences of those they are meant for. In other words, think of the target audience as a compass that the researcher utilizes to come up with relevant, actionable, and meaningful results.

4. Go From General to Specific

One of the ways to construct effective market research questions is through what philosophers call deductive reasoning, deductive logic, or top-down reasoning, a logical method that espouses progressing from general ideas to specific conclusions.

In empirical research, deductive logic enables a market researcher to begin his study by considering previous theories or phenomena that help explain the research problem. Thus, in deduction, the market researcher can premise his study on a general idea, such as a theory that is derived from previous research, and then narrow down his focus to an angle of the theory or research that requires further scrutiny.

It may involve the formulation of a new hypothesis that will be tested by the market researcher, as well as the collection, documentation, and analysis of new data. The researcher will then base his findings within the context of the research hypothesis in relation to the research problems.

One standard industry best practice is for market researchers to make their research methodology public so that their work can be critically analyzed or replicated by other curious researchers, if necessary.

5. Organize Questions Into Thematic Clusters

In thematic analysis, themes are an ordering or grouping of participants’ accounts in a way that characterizes specific perceptions and/or experiences that the researcher considers relevant to the research problems. Through thematic analysis and coding are often used to process and analyze already collected data, market research questions can be thematically clustered as well.

For example, if you have three research problems, you can identify three themes that you consider relevant to them and construct five questions around each theme for a total of 15 market research questions that will help solve the problems.

6. Apply Copywriting Techniques

Copywriting has evolved to play a crucial role in marketing campaigns thanks to its ability to enable brands to communicate effectively with both potential and existing customers through creative writing. Integrating creativity and other copywriting techniques into your market research questions can make them as compelling as web copy.

Creativity demands that you identify and use the most suitable keywords for each question in order to elicit responses that are in tune with the research problems and research objectives.

Types of Market Research Questions with Examples

Luckily, a market researcher has a variety of business research question examples to choose from. The types of market research questions may include:

Demographic-Related Questions

Demographic questions are designed to help market researchers determine what factors may influence a subject’s answers, preferences, and emotions. By collecting demographic information, the researcher will be able to cross-tabulate and compare subgroups to observe how responses vary between the groups. Demographic-related questions may include but aren't limited to:

What is your age/gender/ethnicity/marital status?
What is the highest level of education you have achieved?
What is your monthly income range?
Which part of Texas do you reside in?

Customer-Related Questions

Consumer insight questions constitute an essential source of valuable data/information a company can use to make better products and, hence, boost sales. However, you cannot get the right information if you do not ask the right questions. The precise questions to ask may differ according to the product and/or service offered, the kind of audience you’re researching (e.g., potential or existing customers), and your survey method. Customer-related questions may include, but aren't limited to:

How did you hear about us?
What made you choose us?
What features do you like most about our product or service?
Can you estimate your satisfaction level with our product or service? E.g., high, very high, low, very low

Product-Related Questions

Market research is a great way to sample opinions and perceptions of your product before finalizing it for launch.

Various kinds of new product development research have emerged over the years. One key type is known as “jobs to be done research”. This research aims to unravel the practical reasons people purchase products with respect to the jobs they need to do with such products. You can then use the generated insights to help you create products that will genuinely help consumers and that they’ll ultimately want to purchase.

Below are some example market research questions to ask as you develop your final product to match the needs of customers:

Is our product competitive with other similar products out there? How?
How much would you pay for this product?
Do you believe the price is fair?
What issues do you solve through the use of this product?
Which of the following product categories have you bought in the last three months?
At what prices would you deem the products so expensive that you would consider not buying them?

Brand-Related Questions

Brand awareness and brand perception are extremely important metrics every serious business should track because the insights generated can be used to maximize customer experience and utility levels as well as woo new prospects. Brand-related market research can also help your company develop a better understanding of how to attain the holy grail of branding: converting loyal customers into brand ambassadors.

Brand research questions may include (but aren't limited to):

How did you hear about us?
What do you think about our brand?
How likely are you to recommend our brand to a friend?
Do you think we are doing a good job when compared with our competitors?

Boost Your Market Research Skills

This post has tried to shed more light on questions such as: What is market research? What are the benefits of market research? Why is market research important? What is the purpose of market research? What are some example market research questions?

In answering these crucial questions, areas such as market survey examples, consumer insight questions, business research question examples, examples of brand research questions, and more were discussed. With the insight obtained from the few business research questions examples above (and others), you should be in a stronger position when it comes to taking your business to the next level.

Do you want to acquire more market research knowledge that will transform you into an industry authority or expert? If yes, then join a Maven course today to access a wide variety of market research-related courses. Some highlight courses include: