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<\/p>\nThe benefits of market research are long-proven. Yet still, there are many who focus on instinct instead of insight.<\/p>\n
While intuition is all good and well, there\u2019s no getting away from the power of cold-hard data.<\/p>\n
In this post, I list 11 market research benefits, with real-world examples and six free research templates thrown in for good measure.<\/p>\n
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Why it matters:<\/b> Effective communication is the cornerstone of good relations. And, with how much time, effort, and money it takes to win a new client, ensuring you stay in their good books isn\u2019t just nice \u2013 it\u2019s a necessity.<\/p>\n
The first benefit of market research is the ability to learn about your customer’s likes and dislikes<\/b> \u2013 so you can adapt how you position the business and its products accordingly. Tailored communications speak to customers in a way that resonates far better than generalized messages.<\/p>\n
The one-size-fits-all approach no longer works. Delivering comms in the right format, at the right time, via the right platform can boost engagement and help focus on driving value. With it, customers feel appreciated and receive information that\u2019s both useful and relevant.<\/p>\n
These days, all it takes is a quick click, and customers can unsubscribe from communications. This is why businesses must ensure every communication counts.<\/p>\n
Example: <\/b>Market research surveys<\/a> are an ideal way to quickly understand how customers feel about your communications with them. Be direct, and ask them about the content, frequency, and formats they prefer.<\/p>\n If you want to establish the best time or day of the week to email, you can use your email campaign tracking data to show you the best and worst times, based on open rates, and click-through rates.<\/p>\n Why it matters:<\/b> Market research benefits all types and stages of business planning. It gives you the numbers and insights you need to make accurate forecasts. It can also impact key decisions that can help you develop and adapt your strategy.<\/p>\n Here are a few examples where market research can benefit data-driven decision-making<\/a>:<\/p>\n Market research serves as a trusty compass, helping guide and steer decisions that impact growth and profitability. Once you implement a new tactic or campaign, you can again benefit from market research to measure and track ongoing success.<\/p>\n Why it matters: <\/b>It\u2019s no secret that a comprehensive understanding of one’s target audience<\/a> is fundamental to an organization’s success. Everything from product development to positioning and marketing is impacted by the effective development of target personas.<\/p>\n While most companies have a decent understanding of what their ideal customer profile<\/a> looks like; a distinct advantage of market research is the depth of detail it offers about the preferences, behaviors, and habits of a target audience \u2013 based on actual facts and everyday actions they take online.<\/p>\n By doing audience analysis<\/a> and utilizing consumer journey tracking, organizations can discover insights about their ideal customers quickly and in finite detail. So instead of having a static persona that doesn\u2019t really change with the times; marketers can discover things like:<\/p>\n Grab our customer persona template to use a framework for this research – it’s at the end of this post, along with 5 other useful market research templates<\/a>!<\/b><\/p>\n Perhaps one of the biggest benefits of market research for a business is its ability to help organizations improve efficiency and reduce outlay \u2013\u00a0both from a time and cost perspective. While each business achieves different outcomes, doing proper research can help pave the way for process improvements.<\/p>\n A few examples include:<\/p>\n DocSend uses Similarweb to reduce marketing spend by 20% and reduced research time by 10% \u2013 as an added bonus it saw website traffic<\/a> gains of around 10%.<\/p>\n Read more about how market research benefited DocSend here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Why it matters:<\/b> These days, the competition is fierce in almost every market. Customers have many options to choose from, and outpacing your rivals is a constant battle. From new product or service offerings to campaigns and content \u2013 not to mention promotions and partnerships; keeping a keen eye on your market positioning<\/a> is key.<\/p>\n A core benefit of market research is knowing what other players in your market are doing. More to the point, market research actually shows you how well<\/i> these offerings are doing.<\/p>\n A competitive analysis framework<\/a> is a great way to systematically record and track what your rivals are doing. It can help you spot opportunities, such as:<\/p>\n Good market research can be the differential factor that gives you an edge in your market.<\/p>\n In this scenario, I want to analyze the competitive landscape<\/a> of a social media management company. I chose Sprout Social to review as it\u2019s considered a market leader.<\/p>\n In a snapshot, I can see an overview of its traffic and engagement. This includes the total visits, unique visitors<\/a>, a link to its apps, and a breakdown of traffic by channel. With a quick comparison, I see how these metrics stack up against others in the market. Later.com and influencermarketinghub.com are two players who consistently outperform sproutsocial.com \u2013 which means I can delve deeper into their successes, campaigns, and content next.<\/p>\n From the platform, I can see how many referrals they\u2019re getting, and from where. Which ad networks and campaigns they\u2019re running, and copies of the creatives being used.<\/p>\n Next, I look at the most popular pages<\/a> on Sprout Social\u2019s site. This shows several pages on the topic of small business social media are achieving significant growth \u2013\u00a0indicating my target audience is responding to these pages, so I should be covering or promoting content on a similar theme.<\/p>\n So, in less than a minute, I\u2019ve discovered<\/strong><\/p>\n Software like Similarweb makes it quick and easy to see the insights and metrics that matter most. Here, you can discover where you can get a competitive edge, and keep track of market trends and rival campaigns.<\/p>\n From email marketing to socials, affiliates, referrals, paid ads, and more; there are many marketing channels to leverage \u2013 and it\u2019s not always obvious which is right for your business. Another key benefit of doing market research is the ability to hone in on the channels that deliver the best return on investment.<\/p>\n A trial-and-error approach can be costly. Not just from a dollar perspective, it can be a drain on your resources too. By first establishing the optimal marketing mix for your target audience or market, you can save time and money, and reach your goals faster.<\/p>\n Similarweb Web Intelligence can show you which channels work best for your market and rivals. It also highlights the specific ad creatives and content being used for high-performing campaigns.<\/p>\n Here, you see a snapshot of the marketing channels being used across five competitive sites. It shows the biggest drivers of traffic are direct and organic search. By clicking on any single channel, you can get a complete breakdown of the respective details. I\u2019ve clicked to expand social media, as just one example, here\u2019s what it tells me.<\/p>\n As well as being able to instantly see the insights that count, I can click on any channel to see a detailed breakdown of performance. Next, I can compare each channel to see who is outperforming others \u2013 which tells me exactly who I need to take a closer look at.<\/p>\n The benefits of doing market research apply to those launching new products or entering new markets<\/a>. However, periodic research can also help you spot growth-focused opportunities that may not have been considered before.<\/p>\n Another compelling entrant to include in the benefits of market research is its ability to unearth opportunities to grow. Whether that\u2019s through finding new customers, markets, channels, or creative ways to go to market and get more eyes on your business. A good case in point is in the identification of new partnerships for referrals; something that often comes about when doing a competitive analysis<\/a>.<\/p>\n The advantages of using market research for growth are ongoing, throughout the lifecycle of your business. For example:<\/p>\n Why it matters:<\/b> With how quickly consumer behaviors<\/a> change and markets shift<\/a>, it\u2019s important to move with the times. Market research can help businesses stay in touch with what’s happening \u2013\u00a0something that applies to consumers, competitors, and the industry as a whole.<\/p>\n From changes to purchasing behaviors, new technologies, new products, or service features; researching trends and staying close to rising players in your market allows you to keep tabs on what things are attracting attention.<\/p>\n While you can use digital research tools like Similarweb to quickly analyze a market, search trends, seasonal patterns, mobile app intelligence<\/a>, and more \u2013 qualitative data, like surveys can be leveraged to understand customers and changing behaviors too.<\/p>\n Why it matters:<\/b> With the knowledge of where your business is performing well, or falling behind, you can set goals and direction more clearly. Benchmarking shows you industry standards, and maps out how rivals are doing; so you can measure relative performance.<\/p>\n For a business to grow, it needs to push the boundaries. The benefit of using market research here is that it shows you where and how big those boundaries are. A survey from PWC<\/a> found businesses that set benchmarks achieve 45% more productivity and grow, on average 69 times faster than those that do not.<\/p>\n There are various types of benchmarking<\/a> \u2013 each of which makes it possible to unpack and track the successes of those in your market and drill down into what success looks like for your business.<\/p>\n Why it matters:<\/b> A further benefit of doing market research is that it can show you any relative strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that exist between competitors and in a market. Greater awareness of these facts helps drive the right actions and gives clarity on areas of focus for the business. Without it, your business is susceptible to preventable mistakes.<\/p>\n With company and market research, you find out where opportunities and threats exist in your ecosystem. From environmental or technological factors to internal considerations; forewarned is forearmed. What\u2019s more, a regular review of your SWOT, informed by market research, allows you to capitalize on new opportunities faster than others and keeps you in the strongest position where gaining a competitive edge is concerned.<\/p>\n Helpful:<\/b> Read our complete guide to doing an industry SWOT analysis<\/a>.<\/p>\n Why it matters: <\/b>These days, the importance of having an effective, relevant, and successful content marketing strategy<\/a> cannot be overstated. According to a 2020 competitive intelligence survey<\/a>, companies have, on average, 29 competitors. So, regardless of your sector, in the digital world, it\u2019s constant competition \u2013 be it for better visibility online, a higher CTR, or increased engagement.<\/p>\n So, how does market research benefit a business? And how can you stand out and get found online? With content marketing, of course.<\/p>\n An advantage of using market research to inform your content marketing strategy is that data doesn’t lie. Yes, it\u2019s an old one but a good one. A data-driven approach to content marketing is a surefire way to uncover the most searched keywords<\/a>, the right topics, and content to harness to your advantage.<\/p>\n You can use market research to uncover the following:<\/p>\n Regardless of whether it’s for an enterprise company or an entrepreneur \u2013 time, cost, and experience are viewed as the biggest limitations of market research. But this is an outdated perception that is no longer relevant or true to life.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s how things are in 2022.<\/b><\/p>\n This <\/b>guide to desk research<\/b><\/a> shows you the best places to find secondary research data.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n If you\u2019re on a deadline, let\u2019s say you need to do <\/b>market research for a business plan<\/b><\/a>, market research tools can help you get it done in a day.<\/b><\/p>\n Use <\/b>market research templates<\/b> to guide you through the key data points you need to collect.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n Market research benefits any business, at any stage. From product teams to sales, customer support, marketing, operations, and management \u2013 there\u2019s a relevant application in almost every department. However, many organizations choose only to use it for limited periods in limited areas of their business.<\/p>\n Similarweb Web Intelligence<\/a> makes key insights accessible to all. And with the ability to impact an entire business, at almost every level, it\u2019s a market research tool<\/a> with the power to deliver immense value and insights at pace.<\/p>\n 2. Enables strategic, data-driven plans<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\n3. Develop detailed target personas<\/h2>\n
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4. Reduce costs and save time<\/h2>\n
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5. Stay ahead of the competition<\/h2>\n
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See how much competitive intel I can grab in less than a minute<\/h3>\n
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6. Discover the best marketing channels<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\n7. Identify growth opportunities<\/h2>\n
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8. Spot new or emerging trends<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\n9. Makes it easy to evaluate and track your success<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\n10. Inform market analysis – SWOT<\/h2>\n
11. Inform a content marketing strategy<\/h2>\n
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Benefits of market research \u2013 In summary<\/h2>\n