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Market Survey: Definition, Types and Examples

Market Survey Definition

Market survey is the survey research and unit of analysis of the market for a particular product/service which includes the investigation into customer inclinations. A study of various customer capabilities such as investment attributes and buying potential. Market surveys are tools to directly collect feedback from the target audience to understand their characteristics, expectations, and requirements.

LEARN ABOUT: Level of Analysis

Marketers develop new and exciting strategies for upcoming products/services but there can be no assurance about the success of these strategies. For these to be successful, marketers should determine the category and features of products/services that the target audiences will readily accept. By doing so, the success of a new avenue can be assured.

LEARN ABOUT: Market research vs marketing research

Most marketing managers depend on market surveys to collect information that would catalyze the market research process. Also, the feedback received from these surveys can be contributory in product marketing and feature enhancement.

LEARN ABOUT: Marketing Insight

Market surveys collect data about a target market such as pricing trend analysis , customer requirements, competitor analysis, and other such details.

Purpose of Market Survey

Gain critical customer feedback: The main purpose of the market survey is to offer marketing and business managers a platform to obtain critical information about their consumers so that existing customers can be retained and new ones can be got onboard.
Understand customer inclination towards purchasing products: Details such as whether the customers will spend a certain amount of money for their products/services, inclination levels among customers about upcoming features or products, what are their thoughts about the competitor products etc.
Enhance existing products and services: A market survey can also be implemented with the purpose of improving existing products, analyze customer satisfaction levels along with getting data about their perception of the market and build a buyer persona using information from existing clientele database.
Make well-informed business decisions: Data gathered using market surveys is instrumental in making major changes in the business which reduces the degree of risks involved in taking important business decisions.

LEARN ABOUT: Pricing Research

Market Survey Templates

Product Surveys : New products/concept testing survey templates offer questions to obtain insights about products and concepts. These survey questions are curated by market research experts and can help in analyzing which kind of products or features will work in a market.

Conference Feedback Surveys : Conference feedback survey templates provide questions that can be asked to participants of a conference. An organization can organize better conferences by implementing feedback received from these surveys such as enhancing overall conference management, improved IT infrastructure, better content coverage or other such factors.

Focus Group Surveys : Focus group survey templates can be implemented during and after the recruitment of the focus group. Gaining insights from a dedicated group of 8-10 people can be done easily with this existent survey template.

Hardware And Software Surveys : Hardware and software survey templates offer editable questions about software product evaluation, hardware product evaluation, pre-installation procedure, technical documentation quality and other such factors.

Website Surveys : Website survey templates are customizable as per application and consist of questions pertaining to website customer feedback, visitor profile information, online retail audit information etc.

Learn more: Market Survey Templates

Importance of Market Survey

There are 5 factors that depict the importance of a market survey.

1. Understanding the demand and supply chain of the target market: A product is most likely to be successful if it is developed by keeping in mind the demand and supply of the target market. This way, marketers can obtain insights about market capabilities to absorb new products and concepts to develop customer-centric products and features.

LEARN ABOUT: Test Market Demand

2. Developing well-thought marketing plans: The World is a target market for an organization, especially a well-established one. Getting data from the target market through thorough market research using market surveys and segmentation can be a source of creating concrete and long-term marketing plans.

3. Figure out customer expectations and needs: All marketing activities revolve around customer acquisition. All small and large organizations require market surveys to gather feedback from their target audience regularly, using customer satisfaction tools such as Net Promoter Score , Customer Effort Score , Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) etc. Organizations can analyze customer feedback to measure customer experience, satisfaction, expectations etc.

4. Accurate launch of new products: Market surveys are influential in understanding where to test new products or services. Market surveys provide marketers a platform to analyze the scope of success of upcoming products and make changes in strategizing the product according to the feedback they receive.

5. Obtain information about customer demographics: Customer demographics form the core of any business and market surveys can be used to obtain intricate and sensitive details about customer demographics such as race, ethnicity or family income.

Types of Market Survey with Examples

Multiple types of market surveys are used by enterprises to collect data depending on the objective of their market research . The information collected can be used to study various aspects of the market to address topics such as the right time to launch the product/service, to understand the trends in the market, to measure customer loyalty, to study their competitors and many more.

There are various types of market surveys out of which we will talk about the top 10 to get information from customers about their demands, expectations and what they opine about the competitors. Each one of these market surveys has a different approach and has a marking impact on the various aspects of a business.

LEARN ABOUT: Performance Appraisal Survey

In order to conduct various types of market surveys, successful enterprises in today’s world, use powerful market research survey software to get actionable market insights through real-time data collection and robust analytics. Following are the top 10 types of market surveys that are conducted by successful enterprises.

1. Market Surveys for segmentation: An organization can spot existing and prospective customers and understand why the customers have chosen their products/services and the prospects have not yet made a purchase. This can lead to a structured market segmentation and analysis.

2. Market Surveys for exploring various aspects of the target market: Get information about factors such as market size, demographic information such as age, gender, family income etc. to lay out a roadmap by considering growth rate of the market, positioning, and average market share.

3. Market Surveys to probe into purchase procedure: How does a customer deciding on making a purchase? What are the factors that convert product awareness into sales? This type of market survey will unveil awareness, information, free trial, purchase, and repeat.

4. Market Surveys to establish buyer persona: These surveys are to build a buyer persona by knowing about customer preferences, inclination, and capabilities of purchasing a product.

5. Market Surveys to measure customer loyalty: What is the degree of loyalty that the customers have towards and organization? The answer to this question can be obtained by conducting a market survey.

6. Market Surveys to analyze a new feature or concept: It is essential for an organization to include market-compliant features and concepts. By carrying out a market survey to understand which features to launch, will help all the teams involved in the feature development process to do that with proper research.

7. Market Surveys for competitor analysis: Healthy competition is always good for an organization’s progress. Market surveys done with the motive of competitor analysis will produce results about how does the target market weigh the organization’s products/services in comparison to the others in the market.

8. Market Surveys to understand the impact of sales activities: Sales activities are the backbone of an organization and it becomes crucial to keep track of these activities. Market surveys for sales activities will produce a report of the impact of sales activities, whether their frequency needs to increase or any changes the audiences think should be inculcated in the sales process.

9. Market Surveys to assess prices for new products/services: Affordability of products also is an aspect that drives the market for organizations. Price ranges, product variants to cater multiple price ranges, target customers for each of the products etc.

10. Market Surveys for evaluation of customer service: Good customer service can lead to enhanced satisfaction levels among customers. Factors such as time taken to resolve issues, the scope of improvement, best practices of customer service etc.

LEARN ABOUT: Average Order Value

Learn more: Gym Survey Questions + Sample Questionnaire Template

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Market Research Survey: The Complete Guide

This process involves gathering primary (self-conducted) and secondary (information already researched and made available) sources, to fully assess how a business will fare within a particular market and audience.

A market research survey is typically a source of primary information that businesses can use as part of their market research campaigns. It can also exist as a secondary source, in which case, its studies and results are published online or in a print publication.

This article will take a close look at the market research survey, so that you can use it to the optimum benefit for your business.

What Can you Achieve with Market Research?

A market research survey, as its name entails, is used for research purposes. Before we dive into all the aspects of this survey, it is apt to learn how you can use market research to your full advantage.

Market research is critical for a variety of purposes, including marketing , advertising , and branding campaigns.

Aside from providing data-based support for these macro purposes, market research gains you invaluable insight into particular markets. For example, you may consider running a research campaign for the retail market . Market research will help you gather all the relevant information pertaining to this specific market.

Aside from retail, you can conduct market research in a number of verticals, including ecommerce , technology, real estate and many others.

There are plenty of other applications for market research. Here are some of the ways to use market research to your advantage:

Observe data to prepare for challenges in advance
Gauge the demand for your product or service
Learn key market trends and staples
Discover how your competitors are winning or losing
Uncover your target market’s desires, preferences, aversions and thoughts

The final point is remarkably crucial for market research and for generally keeping your business afloat. And so, we’ll now dig deep into the market research survey, as this tool is especially useful for this purpose.

Defining a Market Research Survey

This tool is the most commonly used market research method — and for good reason. A market research survey allows you to gather data on your target market. Moreover, it allows businesses to do so by accessing any insights they need, as long as they form corresponding questions to their investigation.

Surveys have a far-reaching history, as they date back to ancient civilizations such as Greece and Rome. There was a surge in survey use in 1930s America, in which the government sought to understand the economic and social state of the nation.

Surveys have taken up a variety of forms, including analog forms, such as paper and mail-in formats .

Telephone surveys were the medium of choice for survey research during the 1960s-90s. But, as technological advancements would have it, those have declined in usefulness as well.

In the present day, surveys are conducted online, particularly through the use of designated software platforms. This type of software has paved the way for easy access to primary research.

Businesses can use online survey software and tools and to carry out all their survey research (save for creating the screener and questions). Many such tools available both allow you to build surveys along with deploying them.

To reiterate, market research surveys are powerful tools, in that they empower businesses to ask any question they choose to better understand their market and consumer base. They also can offer key insights into competitors.

The Components of a Market Research Survey

This tool contains two major components: the screener and the questionnaire . These form the bulk of the insights your primary research will gather.

There are also two auxiliary components to incorporate to make your survey research successful. These include the call-out (introduction) and the thank you message (conclusion).

Unlike the essential components, the need to use these will vary based on your survey deployment method and campaign. For example, an emailed survey won’t require a call-out, as the email itself serves this purpose.

A web or mobile survey, on the other hand, will need a call-out to get the attention of your respondents.

Here is a break-down of each component, beginning with the essential elements:

These conditions often deal with demographics, which is incredibly important, as you would need to first and foremost, survey your target market. The screener will ensure it is only your target market that takes part in the survey.
The screener is often comprised of 2-3 questions.
The questionnaire should ask all the necessary questions you need for a particular campaign or sub-campaign. Or, if used in a preliminary stage of your market research, they can deal with questions particularly designed to segment your target market.
If respondents are contacted via email, the call-out is in the email’s body, inviting participants to take it, listing why it’s important, its length and what it’s used for.
If the survey exists within a website (either as a banner, or button), the call-out is the clickable element itself (the button/banner to the survey). It too should explain the survey to respondents.
If the survey is on a website/app, the call-out has to be visible and attractive enough for users to notice it and click on it.
The survey often routes users to another page with a thank you message.
It’s important, as it lets participants know that their survey has in fact been submitted.

How to Create a Market Research Survey

Here are a few steps to take into consideration when starting on a market research survey project.

Step 1: Find a topic your business needs to learn more about.

This is particularly important if it is a topic that has little to no secondary sources. In this case, opting for a survey is the best way to learn more about it firsthand, from the people who matter most: your target market. Pay attention to any problems your business may experience, as surveys should help resolve them.

Step 2: Consider the topic in regards to your target market

When you’ve narrowed down a problem or two, think about your target market. Do you know who constitutes it? If yes, tailor your survey topic into a subtopic that they’ll be most likely to respond to. For example, if your target market is middle-aged men who watch sports, consider whether your problem/topic will be relevant to them.

If you don’t know your target market, you should conduct some secondary research about it first, then perform market segmentation (surveys can help on this front too).

Step 3: Find the larger application of the survey campaign

Now that you’ve settled on a topic/problem and decided on whether it’s fitting for your target market, consider what the parent campaign of the survey would be. Let’s hypothetically say your topic is related to a product. Would a survey on that topic benefit a branding campaign like finding your next slogan? Would it be better suited to settle on a theme for an advertising campaign?

Once you find the most appropriate application or macro campaign to house the survey, your market research will be organized and your survey will be better set up for success.

Step 4: Calculate your margin of error

A margin of error , in simple terms, is a measurement of how effective your survey will be. Expressed as a percentage, it measures the difference between survey results and the population value.

You need to measure this unit, as surveys represent a large group of people, but are made up of a much smaller group. Therefore, the larger the margin of error, the less accurate the opinions of the survey represent an entire population.

Step 5: Create your survey(s)

Now that you’ve calculated the margin of error, start creating your campaign. Decide on how many surveys you would need, in regard to your margin of error and your market research needs.

Start with a broader topic and get more specific in each question. Or, create multiple surveys focused on different but closely related subtopics to your main topic.

Send out your surveys through a trusted survey platform.

Questions to Ask for Various Campaigns

The steps laid out above are part of a simple procedure in developing a market research survey. However, there is much more to these steps, especially that of creating the survey.

Namely, you would need the correct set of questions, as they are the lifeblood of a survey. With so many different survey research campaigns and purposes, brainstorming questions can seem almost counterintuitive.

To avoid information overload and any confusion that creating a survey may incite, review the below question examples. They are organized per campaign type, so you can discern which questions are most suitable for which corresponding research purpose.

Questions for Branding

Branding campaigns include efforts that build the identity of your business; this includes gathering data-backed ideas on logos, imagery, messaging and core themes surrounding your brand. You can use these when embarking on a new campaign, revamping an existing one or when you’re looking to change your brand’s reputation and style.

Which of these brands do you know?
What do you like most/least about this brand?
Which idea is more important? (Use an idea behind setting up your brand’s image/style)
Which images do you find the most inspiring? (To compare images you’ll use in your marketing/ definitive to your brand)
What do you like about [brand]? (Can be open-ended)

Questions for Advertising

Using market research for advertising will help you obtain ideas for new advertising campaigns, testing already established campaign ideas and predicting the success of new ones.

How would you rate the motivating power of this ad?
Which of the following ads resonate the most with you?
Do you remember this ad? (Name and image/video of a popular ad within your industry)
How do you feel after watching this ad?
What kind of use do you think this product/service produces?

Questions for Comparing Yourself with Competitors

Studying your competitors is often associated with secondary research, but you can gain intelligence on this topic through your own survey research. The great thing about surveys is that you don’t have to focus on one competitor when managing these surveys.

How often do you use this product/service?
Which brand do you use for this product/service? (Include one open-ended answer).
Which of the following products (same kind, different brand) do you find the most useful?
What about [competitor product] would you like to see change?
Which brand has improved your life? (Include one open-ended question).

Questions for Market Segmentation

This application is possibly the most challenging, as it involves understanding who your target market already is, then further segmenting it. We understand coming to terms with your target market first, before narrowing it any further down.

Here is how to segment your target market; you’ll notice that the questions are much more granular than the typical questions associated with each topic. (Ex: demographics typically ask for race, age, gender, income, etc).

Demographic segmentation: Which of the following groups do you identify with most closely? (It can involve anything from music, to shopping habits, to lifestyle choices)
Geographic segmentation: Which of the following areas do you typically spend time in to make physical purchases?
Psychographic segmentation: How do you feel about retailers who test their products on animals?
Behavioral segmentation: How often do you buy this kind of product?
Sentimental segmentation: How do the following [practices, images, actions] make you feel?

Securing the Most Benefits Out of Your Market Research Survey

As we can deduce from this guide, the market research survey is a critical tool for market research . There is so much to discover about your industry, competitors and chiefly, your customers. But before making any hasty decisions, it is vital to peruse all your research documents, not just the primary research ones, such as surveys.

When you combine primary and secondary research sources, you’re setting up any business move for greater success.

That’s because market research involves studying more than one source. It may appear daunting, but with the right tools, you can design better products, innovate on existing products, appeal to a wider audience and gain more revenue from your marketing efforts.

Thus, pair your market research survey with other research means for a lucrative market research campaign. Knowledge truly is power.

Frequently asked questions

What is a market research survey.

A market research survey is a survey used for conducting primary market research and is the most commonly used market research method. Market research surveys help you understand your target market, gathering data necessary to make informed decisions on content creation, product development, and more.

What are the components of a market research survey?

There are 4 major components in a market research survey. First, we have the callout to get digital visitors to participate in a survey. Next is the screener which determines who is eligible to take the survey based on their demographics information and answers to screening questions. Then, there is the questionnaire—-- this is the heart of the survey, containing a set of open-ended or closed-ended questions. Lastly, there’s the callout. This introduces the survey to respondents. Next, there’s the thank you message. This acts as the conclusion to the survey.

How can you create a market research survey?

Creating a market research survey starts with identifying the topics your business needs to learn more about. Next, you consider topics within the context of your target market and find the larger application of the survey campaign. Calculate your margin of error and then create your survey using online software.

What types of questions should you ask on your market research survey?

You can ask branding related questions to gather information on how your identity of your business is perceived. You can also ask questions that spark ideas for new advertising campaigns. To supplement your secondary research on competitors, ask questions about your business’s place in the industry. Questions can also be used for market segmentation. These are questions on demographic, geographic, psychographic, behavioral and sentimental topics.

How can you get the most benefits out of your market research survey?

You can get the most out of your market research survey by using the correct online survey platform-- one with specific audience targeting for real consumers, radius targeting and quality screening questions-- you’ll get relevant answers from the right audience.

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

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Methodology

Survey Research | Definition, Examples & Methods

Survey Research | Definition, Examples & Methods

Published on August 20, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on June 22, 2023.

Survey research means collecting information about a group of people by asking them questions and analyzing the results. To conduct an effective survey, follow these six steps:

Determine who will participate in the survey
Decide the type of survey (mail, online, or in-person)
Design the survey questions and layout
Distribute the survey
Analyze the responses
Write up the results

Surveys are a flexible method of data collection that can be used in many different types of research .

What are surveys used for, step 1: define the population and sample, step 2: decide on the type of survey, step 3: design the survey questions, step 4: distribute the survey and collect responses, step 5: analyze the survey results, step 6: write up the survey results, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about surveys.

Surveys are used as a method of gathering data in many different fields. They are a good choice when you want to find out about the characteristics, preferences, opinions, or beliefs of a group of people.

Common uses of survey research include:

Social research : investigating the experiences and characteristics of different social groups
Market research : finding out what customers think about products, services, and companies
Health research : collecting data from patients about symptoms and treatments
Politics : measuring public opinion about parties and policies
Psychology : researching personality traits, preferences and behaviours

Surveys can be used in both cross-sectional studies , where you collect data just once, and in longitudinal studies , where you survey the same sample several times over an extended period.

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Before you start conducting survey research, you should already have a clear research question that defines what you want to find out. Based on this question, you need to determine exactly who you will target to participate in the survey.

Populations

The target population is the specific group of people that you want to find out about. This group can be very broad or relatively narrow. For example:

The population of Brazil
US college students
Second-generation immigrants in the Netherlands
Customers of a specific company aged 18-24
British transgender women over the age of 50

Your survey should aim to produce results that can be generalized to the whole population. That means you need to carefully define exactly who you want to draw conclusions about.

Several common research biases can arise if your survey is not generalizable, particularly sampling bias and selection bias . The presence of these biases have serious repercussions for the validity of your results.

It’s rarely possible to survey the entire population of your research – it would be very difficult to get a response from every person in Brazil or every college student in the US. Instead, you will usually survey a sample from the population.

The sample size depends on how big the population is. You can use an online sample calculator to work out how many responses you need.

There are many sampling methods that allow you to generalize to broad populations. In general, though, the sample should aim to be representative of the population as a whole. The larger and more representative your sample, the more valid your conclusions. Again, beware of various types of sampling bias as you design your sample, particularly self-selection bias , nonresponse bias , undercoverage bias , and survivorship bias .

There are two main types of survey:

A questionnaire , where a list of questions is distributed by mail, online or in person, and respondents fill it out themselves.
An interview , where the researcher asks a set of questions by phone or in person and records the responses.

Which type you choose depends on the sample size and location, as well as the focus of the research.

Questionnaires

Sending out a paper survey by mail is a common method of gathering demographic information (for example, in a government census of the population).

You can easily access a large sample.
You have some control over who is included in the sample (e.g. residents of a specific region).
The response rate is often low, and at risk for biases like self-selection bias .

Online surveys are a popular choice for students doing dissertation research , due to the low cost and flexibility of this method. There are many online tools available for constructing surveys, such as SurveyMonkey and Google Forms .

You can quickly access a large sample without constraints on time or location.
The data is easy to process and analyze.
The anonymity and accessibility of online surveys mean you have less control over who responds, which can lead to biases like self-selection bias .

If your research focuses on a specific location, you can distribute a written questionnaire to be completed by respondents on the spot. For example, you could approach the customers of a shopping mall or ask all students to complete a questionnaire at the end of a class.

You can screen respondents to make sure only people in the target population are included in the sample.
You can collect time- and location-specific data (e.g. the opinions of a store’s weekday customers).
The sample size will be smaller, so this method is less suitable for collecting data on broad populations and is at risk for sampling bias .

Oral interviews are a useful method for smaller sample sizes. They allow you to gather more in-depth information on people’s opinions and preferences. You can conduct interviews by phone or in person.

You have personal contact with respondents, so you know exactly who will be included in the sample in advance.
You can clarify questions and ask for follow-up information when necessary.
The lack of anonymity may cause respondents to answer less honestly, and there is more risk of researcher bias.

Like questionnaires, interviews can be used to collect quantitative data: the researcher records each response as a category or rating and statistically analyzes the results. But they are more commonly used to collect qualitative data : the interviewees’ full responses are transcribed and analyzed individually to gain a richer understanding of their opinions and feelings.

Next, you need to decide which questions you will ask and how you will ask them. It’s important to consider:

The type of questions
The content of the questions
The phrasing of the questions
The ordering and layout of the survey

Open-ended vs closed-ended questions

There are two main forms of survey questions: open-ended and closed-ended. Many surveys use a combination of both.

Closed-ended questions give the respondent a predetermined set of answers to choose from. A closed-ended question can include:

A binary answer (e.g. yes/no or agree/disagree )
A scale (e.g. a Likert scale with five points ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree )
A list of options with a single answer possible (e.g. age categories)
A list of options with multiple answers possible (e.g. leisure interests)

Closed-ended questions are best for quantitative research . They provide you with numerical data that can be statistically analyzed to find patterns, trends, and correlations .

Open-ended questions are best for qualitative research. This type of question has no predetermined answers to choose from. Instead, the respondent answers in their own words.

Open questions are most common in interviews, but you can also use them in questionnaires. They are often useful as follow-up questions to ask for more detailed explanations of responses to the closed questions.

The content of the survey questions

To ensure the validity and reliability of your results, you need to carefully consider each question in the survey. All questions should be narrowly focused with enough context for the respondent to answer accurately. Avoid questions that are not directly relevant to the survey’s purpose.

When constructing closed-ended questions, ensure that the options cover all possibilities. If you include a list of options that isn’t exhaustive, you can add an “other” field.

Phrasing the survey questions

In terms of language, the survey questions should be as clear and precise as possible. Tailor the questions to your target population, keeping in mind their level of knowledge of the topic. Avoid jargon or industry-specific terminology.

Survey questions are at risk for biases like social desirability bias , the Hawthorne effect , or demand characteristics . It’s critical to use language that respondents will easily understand, and avoid words with vague or ambiguous meanings. Make sure your questions are phrased neutrally, with no indication that you’d prefer a particular answer or emotion.

Ordering the survey questions

The questions should be arranged in a logical order. Start with easy, non-sensitive, closed-ended questions that will encourage the respondent to continue.

If the survey covers several different topics or themes, group together related questions. You can divide a questionnaire into sections to help respondents understand what is being asked in each part.

If a question refers back to or depends on the answer to a previous question, they should be placed directly next to one another.

Before you start, create a clear plan for where, when, how, and with whom you will conduct the survey. Determine in advance how many responses you require and how you will gain access to the sample.

When you are satisfied that you have created a strong research design suitable for answering your research questions, you can conduct the survey through your method of choice – by mail, online, or in person.

There are many methods of analyzing the results of your survey. First you have to process the data, usually with the help of a computer program to sort all the responses. You should also clean the data by removing incomplete or incorrectly completed responses.

If you asked open-ended questions, you will have to code the responses by assigning labels to each response and organizing them into categories or themes. You can also use more qualitative methods, such as thematic analysis , which is especially suitable for analyzing interviews.

Statistical analysis is usually conducted using programs like SPSS or Stata. The same set of survey data can be subject to many analyses.

Finally, when you have collected and analyzed all the necessary data, you will write it up as part of your thesis, dissertation , or research paper .

In the methodology section, you describe exactly how you conducted the survey. You should explain the types of questions you used, the sampling method, when and where the survey took place, and the response rate. You can include the full questionnaire as an appendix and refer to it in the text if relevant.

Then introduce the analysis by describing how you prepared the data and the statistical methods you used to analyze it. In the results section, you summarize the key results from your analysis.

In the discussion and conclusion , you give your explanations and interpretations of these results, answer your research question, and reflect on the implications and limitations of the research.

If you want to know more about statistics , methodology , or research bias , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Student’s t -distribution
Normal distribution
Null and Alternative Hypotheses
Chi square tests
Confidence interval
Quartiles & Quantiles
Cluster sampling
Stratified sampling
Data cleansing
Reproducibility vs Replicability
Peer review
Prospective cohort study

Research bias

Implicit bias
Cognitive bias
Placebo effect
Hawthorne effect
Hindsight bias
Affect heuristic
Social desirability bias

A questionnaire is a data collection tool or instrument, while a survey is an overarching research method that involves collecting and analyzing data from people using questionnaires.

A Likert scale is a rating scale that quantitatively assesses opinions, attitudes, or behaviors. It is made up of 4 or more questions that measure a single attitude or trait when response scores are combined.

To use a Likert scale in a survey , you present participants with Likert-type questions or statements, and a continuum of items, usually with 5 or 7 possible responses, to capture their degree of agreement.

Individual Likert-type questions are generally considered ordinal data , because the items have clear rank order, but don’t have an even distribution.

Overall Likert scale scores are sometimes treated as interval data. These scores are considered to have directionality and even spacing between them.

The type of data determines what statistical tests you should use to analyze your data.

The priorities of a research design can vary depending on the field, but you usually have to specify:

Your research questions and/or hypotheses
Your overall approach (e.g., qualitative or quantitative )
The type of design you’re using (e.g., a survey , experiment , or case study )
Your sampling methods or criteria for selecting subjects
Your data collection methods (e.g., questionnaires , observations)
Your data collection procedures (e.g., operationalization , timing and data management)
Your data analysis methods (e.g., statistical tests or thematic analysis )

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

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

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

Table of contents:

What is a market research survey?

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

6 types of market research surveys

How to write and conduct a market research survey

Tips for running a market research survey.

Market research survey campaign example questions

Market research survey template

Use automation to put survey results into action

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

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

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

Experiences

Preferences, desires, and needs

Values and motivations

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

Demographic data

Consumer spending data

Household size

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

6 types of market research survey

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

1. Buyer persona research

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

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

2. Sales funnel research

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

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

How close potential buyers are to making a purchase

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

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

3. Customer loyalty research

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

The demographics of your most loyal customers

What tools are most effective in turning customers into advocates

What you can do to encourage more brand loyalty

4. Branding and marketing research

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

Whether a new advertising angle will do well with existing customers

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

What types of campaign angles do well with a particular demographic

5. New products or features research

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

What features they wish your product currently had

What other similar or related products they shop for

What they think of a particular product or feature idea

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

6. Competitor research

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

Your competitors ' customers' demographics, habits, and behaviors

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

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

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

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

Step 1: Write your survey questions

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

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

Categorical questions

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

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

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

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

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

Ordinal questions

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

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

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

Interval/ratio questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

Step 2: Choose a survey platform

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

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

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

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

Step 3: Run a test survey

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

Survey rejection from the platform for prohibited topics

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

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

Step 4: Launch your survey

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

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

Step 5: Organize and interpret the data

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Market research survey campaign example

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

Survey questions:

1. What size is your business?

<10 employees

11-50 employees

51-100 employees

101-200 employees

>200 employees

2. What industry type best describes your role?

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

1 - Not important

2 - Somewhat important

3 - Very important

4 - Critically important

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

Accuracy of data

Attractive presentation of data

Cost of data access

Range of data presentation formats

Timeliness of data

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

Survey findings:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Market research survey example questions

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

Yes/No: Have you purchased our product before?

Multiple choice: How many employees work at your company?

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

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

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

Dropdown: What's your household income?

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

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

Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / LinkedIn / Reddit

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

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5

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

Market research survey question types

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

Screenshot of Zapier's market research survey question format guide

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

Improve your productivity automatically. Use Zapier to get your apps working together.

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What Is Market Research?

How It Works
Primary vs. Secondary
How to Conduct Research

The Bottom Line

Marketing Essentials

How to Do Market Research, Types, and Example

Joules Garcia / Investopedia

Market research examines consumer behavior and trends in the economy to help a business develop and fine-tune its business idea and strategy. It helps a business understand its target market by gathering and analyzing data.

Market research is the process of evaluating the viability of a new service or product through research conducted directly with potential customers. It allows a company to define its target market and get opinions and other feedback from consumers about their interest in a product or service.

Research may be conducted in-house or by a third party that specializes in market research. It can be done through surveys and focus groups, among other ways. Test subjects are usually compensated with product samples or a small stipend for their time.

Key Takeaways

Companies conduct market research before introducing new products to determine their appeal to potential customers.
Tools include focus groups, telephone interviews, and questionnaires.
The results of market research inform the final design of the product and determine how it will be positioned in the marketplace.
Market research usually combines primary information, gathered directly from consumers, and secondary information, which is data available from external sources.

Market Research

How market research works.

Market research is used to determine the viability of a new product or service. The results may be used to revise the product design and fine-tune the strategy for introducing it to the public. This can include information gathered for the purpose of determining market segmentation . It also informs product differentiation , which is used to tailor advertising.

A business engages in various tasks to complete the market research process. It gathers information based on the market sector being targeted by the product. This information is then analyzed and relevant data points are interpreted to draw conclusions about how the product may be optimally designed and marketed to the market segment for which it is intended.

It is a critical component in the research and development (R&D) phase of a new product or service introduction. Market research can be conducted in many different ways, including surveys, product testing, interviews, and focus groups.

Market research is a critical tool that companies use to understand what consumers want, develop products that those consumers will use, and maintain a competitive advantage over other companies in their industry.

Primary Market Research vs. Secondary Market Research

Market research usually consists of a combination of:

Primary research, gathered by the company or by an outside company that it hires
Secondary research, which draws on external sources of data

Primary Market Research

Primary research generally falls into two categories: exploratory and specific research.

Exploratory research is less structured and functions via open-ended questions. The questions may be posed in a focus group setting, telephone interviews, or questionnaires. It results in questions or issues that the company needs to address about a product that it has under development.
Specific research delves more deeply into the problems or issues identified in exploratory research.

Secondary Market Research

All market research is informed by the findings of other researchers about the needs and wants of consumers. Today, much of this research can be found online.

Secondary research can include population information from government census data , trade association research reports , polling results, and research from other businesses operating in the same market sector.

History of Market Research

Formal market research began in Germany during the 1920s. In the United States, it soon took off with the advent of the Golden Age of Radio.

Companies that created advertisements for this new entertainment medium began to look at the demographics of the audiences who listened to each of the radio plays, music programs, and comedy skits that were presented.

They had once tried to reach the widest possible audience by placing their messages on billboards or in the most popular magazines. With radio programming, they had the chance to target rural or urban consumers, teenagers or families, and judge the results by the sales numbers that followed.

Types of Market Research

Face-to-face interviews.

From their earliest days, market research companies would interview people on the street about the newspapers and magazines that they read regularly and ask whether they recalled any of the ads or brands that were published in them. Data collected from these interviews were compared to the circulation of the publication to determine the effectiveness of those ads.

Market research and surveys were adapted from these early techniques.

To get a strong understanding of your market, it’s essential to understand demand, market size, economic indicators, location, market saturation, and pricing.

Focus Groups

A focus group is a small number of representative consumers chosen to try a product or watch an advertisement.

Afterward, the group is asked for feedback on their perceptions of the product, the company’s brand, or competing products. The company then takes that information and makes decisions about what to do with the product or service, whether that's releasing it, making changes, or abandoning it altogether.

Phone Research

The man-on-the-street interview technique soon gave way to the telephone interview. A telephone interviewer could collect information in a more efficient and cost-effective fashion.

Telephone research was a preferred tactic of market researchers for many years. It has become much more difficult in recent years as landline phone service dwindles and is replaced by less accessible mobile phones.

Survey Research

As an alternative to focus groups, surveys represent a cost-effective way to determine consumer attitudes without having to interview anyone in person. Consumers are sent surveys in the mail, usually with a coupon or voucher to incentivize participation. These surveys help determine how consumers feel about the product, brand, and price point.

Online Market Research

With people spending more time online, market research activities have shifted online as well. Data collection still uses a survey-style form. But instead of companies actively seeking participants by finding them on the street or cold calling them on the phone, people can choose to sign up, take surveys, and offer opinions when they have time.

This makes the process far less intrusive and less rushed, since people can participate on their own time and of their own volition.

How to Conduct Market Research

The first step to effective market research is to determine the goals of the study. Each study should seek to answer a clear, well-defined problem. For example, a company might seek to identify consumer preferences, brand recognition, or the comparative effectiveness of different types of ad campaigns.

After that, the next step is to determine who will be included in the research. Market research is an expensive process, and a company cannot waste resources collecting unnecessary data. The firm should decide in advance which types of consumers will be included in the research, and how the data will be collected. They should also account for the probability of statistical errors or sampling bias .

The next step is to collect the data and analyze the results. If the two previous steps have been completed accurately, this should be straightforward. The researchers will collect the results of their study, keeping track of the ages, gender, and other relevant data of each respondent. This is then analyzed in a marketing report that explains the results of their research.

The last step is for company executives to use their market research to make business decisions. Depending on the results of their research, they may choose to target a different group of consumers, or they may change their price point or some product features.

The results of these changes may eventually be measured in further market research, and the process will begin all over again.

Benefits of Market Research

Market research is essential for developing brand loyalty and customer satisfaction. Since it is unlikely for a product to appeal equally to every consumer, a strong market research program can help identify the key demographics and market segments that are most likely to use a given product.

Market research is also important for developing a company’s advertising efforts. For example, if a company’s market research determines that its consumers are more likely to use Facebook than X (formerly Twitter), it can then target its advertisements to one platform instead of another. Or, if they determine that their target market is value-sensitive rather than price-sensitive, they can work on improving the product rather than reducing their prices.

Market research only works when subjects are honest and open to participating.

Example of Market Research

Many companies use market research to test new products or get information from consumers about what kinds of products or services they need and don’t currently have.

For example, a company that’s considering starting a business might conduct market research to test the viability of its product or service. If the market research confirms consumer interest, the business can proceed confidently with its business plan . If not, the company can use the results of the market research to make adjustments to the product to bring it in line with customer desires.

What Are the Main Types of Market Research?

The main types of market research are primary research and secondary research. Primary research includes focus groups, polls, and surveys. Secondary research includes academic articles, infographics, and white papers.

Qualitative research gives insights into how customers feel and think. Quantitative research uses data and statistics such as website views, social media engagement, and subscriber numbers.

What Is Online Market Research?

Online market research uses the same strategies and techniques as traditional primary and secondary market research, but it is conducted on the Internet. Potential customers may be asked to participate in a survey or give feedback on a product. The responses may help the researchers create a profile of the likely customer for a new product.

What Are Paid Market Research Surveys?

Paid market research involves rewarding individuals who agree to participate in a study. They may be offered a small payment for their time or a discount coupon in return for filling out a questionnaire or participating in a focus group.

What Is a Market Study?

A market study is an analysis of consumer demand for a product or service. It looks at all of the factors that influence demand for a product or service. These include the product’s price, location, competition, and substitutes as well as general economic factors that could influence the new product’s adoption, for better or worse.

Market research is a key component of a company’s research and development (R&D) stage. It helps companies understand in advance the viability of a new product that they have in development and to see how it might perform in the real world.

Britannica Money. “ Market Research .”

U.S. Small Business Administration. “ Market Research and Competitive Analysis .”

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What is a survey?
Survey Research

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What is survey research.

15 min read Find out everything you need to know about survey research, from what it is and how it works to the different methods and tools you can use to ensure you’re successful.

Survey research is the process of collecting data from a predefined group (e.g. customers or potential customers) with the ultimate goal of uncovering insights about your products, services, or brand overall .

As a quantitative data collection method, survey research can provide you with a goldmine of information that can inform crucial business and product decisions. But survey research needs careful planning and execution to get the results you want.

So if you’re thinking about using surveys to carry out research, read on.

Get started with our free survey maker tool

Types of survey research

Calling these methods ‘survey research’ slightly underplays the complexity of this type of information gathering. From the expertise required to carry out each activity to the analysis of the data and its eventual application, a considerable amount of effort is required.

As for how you can carry out your research, there are several options to choose from — face-to-face interviews, telephone surveys, focus groups (though more interviews than surveys), online surveys , and panel surveys.

Typically, the survey method you choose will largely be guided by who you want to survey, the size of your sample , your budget, and the type of information you’re hoping to gather.

Here are a few of the most-used survey types:

Face-to-face interviews

Before technology made it possible to conduct research using online surveys, telephone, and mail were the most popular methods for survey research. However face-to-face interviews were considered the gold standard — the only reason they weren’t as popular was due to their highly prohibitive costs.

When it came to face-to-face interviews, organizations would use highly trained researchers who knew when to probe or follow up on vague or problematic answers. They also knew when to offer assistance to respondents when they seemed to be struggling. The result was that these interviewers could get sample members to participate and engage in surveys in the most effective way possible, leading to higher response rates and better quality data.

Telephone surveys

While phone surveys have been popular in the past, particularly for measuring general consumer behavior or beliefs, response rates have been declining since the 1990s .

Phone surveys are usually conducted using a random dialing system and software that a researcher can use to record responses.

This method is beneficial when you want to survey a large population but don’t have the resources to conduct face-to-face research surveys or run focus groups, or want to ask multiple-choice and open-ended questions .

The downsides are they can: take a long time to complete depending on the response rate, and you may have to do a lot of cold-calling to get the information you need.

You also run the risk of respondents not being completely honest . Instead, they’ll answer your survey questions quickly just to get off the phone.

Focus groups (interviews — not surveys)

Focus groups are a separate qualitative methodology rather than surveys — even though they’re often bunched together. They’re normally used for survey pretesting and designing , but they’re also a great way to generate opinions and data from a diverse range of people.

Focus groups involve putting a cohort of demographically or socially diverse people in a room with a moderator and engaging them in a discussion on a particular topic, such as your product, brand, or service.

They remain a highly popular method for market research , but they’re expensive and require a lot of administration to conduct and analyze the data properly.

You also run the risk of more dominant members of the group taking over the discussion and swaying the opinions of other people — potentially providing you with unreliable data.

Online surveys

Online surveys have become one of the most popular survey methods due to being cost-effective, enabling researchers to accurately survey a large population quickly.

Online surveys can essentially be used by anyone for any research purpose – we’ve all seen the increasing popularity of polls on social media (although these are not scientific).

Using an online survey allows you to ask a series of different question types and collect data instantly that’s easy to analyze with the right software.

There are also several methods for running and distributing online surveys that allow you to get your questionnaire in front of a large population at a fraction of the cost of face-to-face interviews or focus groups.

This is particularly true when it comes to mobile surveys as most people with a smartphone can access them online.

However, you have to be aware of the potential dangers of using online surveys, particularly when it comes to the survey respondents. The biggest risk is because online surveys require access to a computer or mobile device to complete, they could exclude elderly members of the population who don’t have access to the technology — or don’t know how to use it.

It could also exclude those from poorer socio-economic backgrounds who can’t afford a computer or consistent internet access. This could mean the data collected is more biased towards a certain group and can lead to less accurate data when you’re looking for a representative population sample.

When it comes to surveys, every voice matters.

Find out how to create more inclusive and representative surveys for your research.

Panel surveys

A panel survey involves recruiting respondents who have specifically signed up to answer questionnaires and who are put on a list by a research company. This could be a workforce of a small company or a major subset of a national population. Usually, these groups are carefully selected so that they represent a sample of your target population — giving you balance across criteria such as age, gender, background, and so on.

Panel surveys give you access to the respondents you need and are usually provided by the research company in question. As a result, it’s much easier to get access to the right audiences as you just need to tell the research company your criteria. They’ll then determine the right panels to use to answer your questionnaire.

However, there are downsides. The main one being that if the research company offers its panels incentives, e.g. discounts, coupons, money — respondents may answer a lot of questionnaires just for the benefits.

This might mean they rush through your survey without providing considered and truthful answers. As a consequence, this can damage the credibility of your data and potentially ruin your analyses.

What are the benefits of using survey research?

Depending on the research method you use, there are lots of benefits to conducting survey research for data collection. Here, we cover a few:

1. They’re relatively easy to do

Most research surveys are easy to set up, administer and analyze. As long as the planning and survey design is thorough and you target the right audience , the data collection is usually straightforward regardless of which survey type you use.

2. They can be cost effective

Survey research can be relatively cheap depending on the type of survey you use.

Generally, qualitative research methods that require access to people in person or over the phone are more expensive and require more administration.

Online surveys or mobile surveys are often more cost-effective for market research and can give you access to the global population for a fraction of the cost.

3. You can collect data from a large sample

Again, depending on the type of survey, you can obtain survey results from an entire population at a relatively low price. You can also administer a large variety of survey types to fit the project you’re running.

4. You can use survey software to analyze results immediately

Using survey software, you can use advanced statistical analysis techniques to gain insights into your responses immediately.

Analysis can be conducted using a variety of parameters to determine the validity and reliability of your survey data at scale.

5. Surveys can collect any type of data

While most people view surveys as a quantitative research method, they can just as easily be adapted to gain qualitative information by simply including open-ended questions or conducting interviews face to face.

How to measure concepts with survey questions

While surveys are a great way to obtain data, that data on its own is useless unless it can be analyzed and developed into actionable insights.

The easiest, and most effective way to measure survey results, is to use a dedicated research tool that puts all of your survey results into one place.

When it comes to survey measurement, there are four measurement types to be aware of that will determine how you treat your different survey results:

Nominal scale

With a nominal scale , you can only keep track of how many respondents chose each option from a question, and which response generated the most selections.

An example of this would be simply asking a responder to choose a product or brand from a list.

You could find out which brand was chosen the most but have no insight as to why.

Ordinal scale

Ordinal scales are used to judge an order of preference. They do provide some level of quantitative value because you’re asking responders to choose a preference of one option over another.

Ratio scale

Ratio scales can be used to judge the order and difference between responses. For example, asking respondents how much they spend on their weekly shopping on average.

Interval scale

In an interval scale, values are lined up in order with a meaningful difference between the two values — for example, measuring temperature or measuring a credit score between one value and another.

Step by step: How to conduct surveys and collect data

Conducting a survey and collecting data is relatively straightforward, but it does require some careful planning and design to ensure it results in reliable data.

Step 1 – Define your objectives

What do you want to learn from the survey? How is the data going to help you? Having a hypothesis or series of assumptions about survey responses will allow you to create the right questions to test them.

Step 2 – Create your survey questions

Once you’ve got your hypotheses or assumptions, write out the questions you need answering to test your theories or beliefs. Be wary about framing questions that could lead respondents or inadvertently create biased responses .

Step 3 – Choose your question types

Your survey should include a variety of question types and should aim to obtain quantitative data with some qualitative responses from open-ended questions. Using a mix of questions (simple Yes/ No, multiple-choice, rank in order, etc) not only increases the reliability of your data but also reduces survey fatigue and respondents simply answering questions quickly without thinking.

Find out how to create a survey that’s easy to engage with

Step 4 – Test your questions

Before sending your questionnaire out, you should test it (e.g. have a random internal group do the survey) and carry out A/B tests to ensure you’ll gain accurate responses.

Step 5 – Choose your target and send out the survey

Depending on your objectives, you might want to target the general population with your survey or a specific segment of the population. Once you’ve narrowed down who you want to target, it’s time to send out the survey.

After you’ve deployed the survey, keep an eye on the response rate to ensure you’re getting the number you expected. If your response rate is low, you might need to send the survey out to a second group to obtain a large enough sample — or do some troubleshooting to work out why your response rates are so low. This could be down to your questions, delivery method, selected sample, or otherwise.

Step 6 – Analyze results and draw conclusions

Once you’ve got your results back, it’s time for the fun part.

Break down your survey responses using the parameters you’ve set in your objectives and analyze the data to compare to your original assumptions. At this stage, a research tool or software can make the analysis a lot easier — and that’s somewhere Qualtrics can help.

Get reliable insights with survey software from Qualtrics

Gaining feedback from customers and leads is critical for any business, data gathered from surveys can prove invaluable for understanding your products and your market position, and with survey software from Qualtrics, it couldn’t be easier.

Used by more than 13,000 brands and supporting more than 1 billion surveys a year, Qualtrics empowers everyone in your organization to gather insights and take action. No coding required — and your data is housed in one system.

Get feedback from more than 125 sources on a single platform and view and measure your data in one place to create actionable insights and gain a deeper understanding of your target customers .

Automatically run complex text and statistical analysis to uncover exactly what your survey data is telling you, so you can react in real-time and make smarter decisions.

We can help you with survey management, too. From designing your survey and finding your target respondents to getting your survey in the field and reporting back on the results, we can help you every step of the way.

And for expert market researchers and survey designers, Qualtrics features custom programming to give you total flexibility over question types, survey design, embedded data, and other variables.

No matter what type of survey you want to run, what target audience you want to reach, or what assumptions you want to test or answers you want to uncover, we’ll help you design, deploy and analyze your survey with our team of experts.

Ready to find out more about Qualtrics CoreXM?

Get started with our free survey maker tool today

Related resources

Survey bias types 24 min read, post event survey questions 10 min read, best survey software 16 min read, close-ended questions 7 min read, survey vs questionnaire 12 min read, response bias 13 min read, double barreled question 11 min read, request demo.

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How to conduct a market survey that works

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Want consumer insights that are smokin’ hot? Get On the dot

Knowing your audience is the backbone of success whether you’re a small business or a household name. And to know your audience, you need to do some all-important market research. But what’s the best way to go about doing that? Well, the easy answer is to use our market research platform to get on-demand insights into your existing audience and your potential customers.

But, if you want to take the long route, you could conduct a good old fashioned market research survey yourself.

What is a market research survey?

We’re glad you asked. A market research survey is a way of gaining information, insights, and attributes about your target consumers, so you can better understand them and what makes them tick. These surveys are typically conducted by market research companies . More information means more knowledge, which leads to more understanding – helping drive more successful campaigns.

But market research surveys don’t just help you improve your targeting and create campaigns that have impact. They provide valuable insight into the feelings, attitudes, and preferences of your audience – guiding everything from concept testing and launching new products, to brand positioning and customer satisfaction.

But what does it really take to conduct a market survey that works? Let’s get into it.

1. Set a clear goal 2. Know who to survey 3. Get help from survey-savvy people 4. Figure out the best way to get answers 5. Focus on the execution 6. Understand analysis is the answer 7. Uncover the bigger picture

1. Set a clear goal

Start by setting a clear objective of what you want from your market research. This will be determined by your marketing goals. If you’re launching a new product, for example, you’ll want to know what the demand is, how aware people are of your existing products/brand, if they currently use a competitor, and how frequently they buy.

Be precise about the outcome you’re looking for so you can get the answers you need to nail your future marketing campaigns .

Why are you doing the survey?
What do you want to find out from your research?
Is it for product improvements with an existing audience?
Are you looking to launch a new product into the marketplace and therefore need to know if there’s sufficient demand?
Are you looking to improve your customer experience?

Knowing what you want to find out will help you identify what information you need. And it’ll help you determine whether a qualitative or quantitative approach works best.

The aim is to find out what your customers are looking for and improve satisfaction with your brand.

Uncovering consumer attitudes could reveal some invaluable insights that will guide your strategy with the customer at the heart.

2. Know who to survey

Market research starts with identifying which market you’re targeting. Who’s your audience? Are you looking at existing customers? Or are you looking to find out more about potential customers?

Think back to your goal here. Keeping in mind what you’re looking to achieve from your market research can help guide who you survey. For example, if you want to build on your customer offering by introducing a priority service, you may just want to gather information from people living in a certain area or earning over a certain amount.

Use regional data to attain precise information about the target customer whose data you need, and narrow it down to support your ultimate goal.

Determine key demographics of your target audience like where they live, their age, gender, or income bracket. You’ll also need to establish the market size of your target market in order to calculate your sample size.

3. Get help from some survey-savvy people

Who knows about surveys? We do.

We teased this at the start, but turning to an existing, ongoing survey (or multiple) could save you a helluva lot of time – and money. So if you need a faster way to understand digital consumers, we give you an on-demand window into their worlds. All in a few quick clicks, in one reliable audience insights platform.

GWI data spans 53 markets and represents over 2 billion internet users, making it the world’s leading market survey on digital consumers.

We provide a level of detail you can’t find elsewhere. Survey research is tricky. So why not leave it to the market research experts? And if you want something super bespoke for your business needs, our Custom research offering might be just the thing.

4. Figure out the best way to get answers

Cast your mind back to steps 1 and 2. Thinking about who you’re looking to survey and what you’re looking to gain will help determine how you get those answers from the right target market.

Knowing the difference between primary research and secondary research, as well as qualitative and quantitative, can go a long way to helping you figure out the best approach.

For example, primary market research is where you gather data that hasn’t been collected before – it’s new, essentially. You can gather primary research via surveys or observations. On the other hand, secondary market research is where you gather data that’s already been collected or conducted before by other people. You can find secondary research in published reports or studies.

Surveys can be carried out in a number of ways, no longer exclusive to telephone surveys and focus groups. The online survey is another option that allows you to take a step away from the time-consuming paper survey. You can also conduct market research in groups or on an individual basis.

Once again, the optimum approach for your brand will depend on your goals and the information you’re trying to capture, as well as your target audience, market share potential, and overall preferences.

If you want to gather in-depth information from Gen Z , for example, you might want to head over to Instagram. With 28% of Gen Zs saying that Instagram is their favorite social media platform, you’re most likely to find them scrolling here where you can try out polls to get answers, and ask follow-up questions that dig a little deeper.

Using quantitative panel data to back this up, market researchers can come away with powerful insights and market analysis they can trust.

5. Focus on the execution

Once you’re clear about your goals, the data you want, the people you need to talk to, and the best way to gather your survey data, it’s important to maximize the sample size.

This means reaching people at the right time, checking out where they’re likely to be, and setting a realistic timeframe for them to share their thoughts.

You’ve got to really keep your target audience in mind here. If you’re physically interacting with people, think about the places they’re likely to visit, and at what times they’ll be there. There’s no use setting up camp at the mall on a weekday if you’re looking to talk to corporate big fish.

If it’s an online survey, understanding which social media platforms or websites they are likely to hang out on, and at what times they tend to be online is vital to getting those survey form completion numbers to hit the high notes.

Conducting some data analysis ahead of the survey can go a long way in helping make the survey easier to reach the right audiences. Take the guesswork out of your marketing research.

6. Analysis is the answer

Once you’ve gathered your market survey responses, they need to be analyzed thoroughly to pull out key trends and findings to allow you to gain some tasty, actionable insights from the data. So, what do you need to be looking at?

Examine qualitative answers for stand-out quotes and detailed feedback about attitudes and behaviors
Calculate averages from your quantitative answers
Compare your results against global and local secondary market research

There are plenty of ways to cross-examine and analyze your market research data based on the type of data you’ve collected and what you’re looking for.

7. Uncover the bigger picture

Conducting a single market research survey is invaluable to brands, but when carried out in isolation, market research can lack real-world relevance.

To get more from your analysis, large-scale market survey data allows you to compare your findings across multiple data points. You can cross-reference it with local subgroups and compare against global averages to clearly see where the value truly lies.

Use case: Identifying affluent consumer behaviors on social media

Here’s a hypothetical example. Let’s say you sell a luxury product. You’ve identified from your own survey results and analytics that social media is prominent in your customers’ lives.

But you need more detail to target high-earners on the channels where they’re most active.

By using a deep data set to dig down into their activity on social media, you can uncover exactly where they spend their time:

Chart showing percentage of affluent consumers who use social media monthly

Combining this with questions designed to reveal their motivations for using social media takes your understanding to the next level:

Chart showing top interests of affluent consumers on social media

Here, 30% of affluent consumers follow/subscribe to companies and brands they purchase from, so we’re more inclined to say they can be targeted with a good social media strategy from brands to be enticed into buying from them.

Uncovering insights like this is key to delivering a well-positioned message that sticks.

Now, you can create a campaign specifically targeted to hit your ideal target market, where they hang out and in a way that speaks to their interests.

Market research surveys are pivotal to success

Market surveys can be used in a variety of ways to help a brand focus more on its target audience and take a more people-based approach.

You can use it to get a better understanding of the perceptions around your brand, test the appetite for a new product, and find customer demographics to accurately pitch an ad campaign. A marketing research survey enables you to gather information about your audience and help to build a buyer persona for each sector of your target audience for more personalized, effective marketing strategies.

Data holds the answers you need to achieve almost every business goal.

But data is powerless without effective analysis. And without effective analysis, no insights can be drawn. So it pays to have third-party survey data sets at your disposal to contextualize your findings. A skillfully-planned market survey that catches customer feedback and experience will deliver findings that could spell the difference between success and failure in a marketing strategy. Leveraging GWI’s data platform means getting clued up on your audience fast, and making decisions you can stand behind.

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Written by Mary Kate Miller | June 1, 2021

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Market research is a cornerstone of all successful, strategic businesses. It can also be daunting for entrepreneurs looking to launch a startup or start a side hustle . What is market research, anyway? And how do you…do it?

We’ll walk you through absolutely everything you need to know about the market research process so that by the end of this guide, you’ll be an expert in market research too. And what’s more important: you’ll have actionable steps you can take to start collecting your own market research.

What Is Market Research?

Market research is the organized process of gathering information about your target customers and market. Market research can help you better understand customer behavior and competitor strengths and weaknesses, as well as provide insight for the best strategies in launching new businesses and products. There are different ways to approach market research, including primary and secondary research and qualitative and quantitative research. The strongest approaches will include a combination of all four.

“Virtually every business can benefit from conducting some market research,” says Niles Koenigsberg of Real FiG Advertising + Marketing . “Market research can help you piece together your [business’s] strengths and weaknesses, along with your prospective opportunities, so that you can understand where your unique differentiators may lie.” Well-honed market research will help your brand stand out from the competition and help you see what you need to do to lead the market. It can also do so much more.

The Purposes of Market Research

Why do market research? It can help you…

Pinpoint your target market, create buyer personas, and develop a more holistic understanding of your customer base and market.
Understand current market conditions to evaluate risks and anticipate how your product or service will perform.
Validate a concept prior to launch.
Identify gaps in the market that your competitors have created or overlooked.
Solve problems that have been left unresolved by the existing product/brand offerings.
Identify opportunities and solutions for new products or services.
Develop killer marketing strategies .

What Are the Benefits of Market Research?

Strong market research can help your business in many ways. It can…

Strengthen your market position.
Help you identify your strengths and weaknesses.
Help you identify your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses.
Minimize risk.
Center your customers’ experience from the get-go.
Help you create a dynamic strategy based on market conditions and customer needs/demands.

What Are the Basic Methods of Market Research?

The basic methods of market research include surveys, personal interviews, customer observation, and the review of secondary research. In addition to these basic methods, a forward-thinking market research approach incorporates data from the digital landscape like social media analysis, SEO research, gathering feedback via forums, and more. Throughout this guide, we will cover each of the methods commonly used in market research to give you a comprehensive overview.

Primary vs. Secondary Market Research

Primary and secondary are the two main types of market research you can do. The latter relies on research conducted by others. Primary research, on the other hand, refers to the fact-finding efforts you conduct on your own.

This approach is limited, however. It’s likely that the research objectives of these secondary data points differ from your own, and it can be difficult to confirm the veracity of their findings.

Primary Market Research

Primary research is more labor intensive, but it generally yields data that is exponentially more actionable. It can be conducted through interviews, surveys, online research, and your own data collection. Every new business should engage in primary market research prior to launch. It will help you validate that your idea has traction, and it will give you the information you need to help minimize financial risk.

You can hire an agency to conduct this research on your behalf. This brings the benefit of expertise, as you’ll likely work with a market research analyst. The downside is that hiring an agency can be expensive—too expensive for many burgeoning entrepreneurs. That brings us to the second approach. You can also do the market research yourself, which substantially reduces the financial burden of starting a new business .

Secondary Market Research

Secondary research includes resources like government databases and industry-specific data and publications. It can be beneficial to start your market research with secondary sources because it’s widely available and often free-to-access. This information will help you gain a broad overview of the market conditions for your new business.

Identify Your Goals and Your Audience

Before you begin conducting interviews or sending out surveys, you need to set your market research goals. At the end of your market research process, you want to have a clear idea of who your target market is—including demographic information like age, gender, and where they live—but you also want to start with a rough idea of who your audience might be and what you’re trying to achieve with market research.

You can pinpoint your objectives by asking yourself a series of guiding questions:

What are you hoping to discover through your research?
Who are you hoping to serve better because of your findings?
What do you think your market is?
Who are your competitors?
Are you testing the reception of a new product category or do you want to see if your product or service solves the problem left by a current gap in the market?
Are you just…testing the waters to get a sense of how people would react to a new brand?

Once you’ve narrowed down the “what” of your market research goals, you’re ready to move onto how you can best achieve them. Think of it like algebra. Many math problems start with “solve for x.” Once you know what you’re looking for, you can get to work trying to find it. It’s a heck of a lot easier to solve a problem when you know you’re looking for “x” than if you were to say “I’m gonna throw some numbers out there and see if I find a variable.”

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How to Do Market Research

This guide outlines every component of a comprehensive market research effort. Take into consideration the goals you have established for your market research, as they will influence which of these elements you’ll want to include in your market research strategy.

Secondary Data

Secondary data allows you to utilize pre-existing data to garner a sense of market conditions and opportunities. You can rely on published market studies, white papers, and public competitive information to start your market research journey.

Secondary data, while useful, is limited and cannot substitute your own primary data. It’s best used for quantitative data that can provide background to your more specific inquiries.

Find Your Customers Online

Once you’ve identified your target market, you can use online gathering spaces and forums to gain insights and give yourself a competitive advantage. Rebecca McCusker of The Creative Content Shop recommends internet recon as a vital tool for gaining a sense of customer needs and sentiment. “Read their posts and comments on forums, YouTube video comments, Facebook group [comments], and even Amazon/Goodreads book comments to get in their heads and see what people are saying.”

If you’re interested in engaging with your target demographic online, there are some general rules you should follow. First, secure the consent of any group moderators to ensure that you are acting within the group guidelines. Failure to do so could result in your eviction from the group.

Not all comments have the same research value. “Focus on the comments and posts with the most comments and highest engagement,” says McCusker. These high-engagement posts can give you a sense of what is already connecting and gaining traction within the group.

Social media can also be a great avenue for finding interview subjects. “LinkedIn is very useful if your [target customer] has a very specific job or works in a very specific industry or sector. It’s amazing the amount of people that will be willing to help,” explains Miguel González, a marketing executive at Dealers League . “My advice here is BE BRAVE, go to LinkedIn, or even to people you know and ask them, do quick interviews and ask real people that belong to that market and segment and get your buyer persona information first hand.”

Market research interviews can provide direct feedback on your brand, product, or service and give you a better understanding of consumer pain points and interests.

When organizing your market research interviews, you want to pay special attention to the sample group you’re selecting, as it will directly impact the information you receive. According to Tanya Zhang, the co-founder of Nimble Made , you want to first determine whether you want to choose a representative sample—for example, interviewing people who match each of the buyer persona/customer profiles you’ve developed—or a random sample.

“A sampling of your usual persona styles, for example, can validate details that you’ve already established about your product, while a random sampling may [help you] discover a new way people may use your product,” Zhang says.

Market Surveys

Market surveys solicit customer inclinations regarding your potential product or service through a series of open-ended questions. This direct outreach to your target audience can provide information on your customers’ preferences, attitudes, buying potential, and more.

Every expert we asked voiced unanimous support for market surveys as a powerful tool for market research. With the advent of various survey tools with accessible pricing—or free use—it’s never been easier to assemble, disseminate, and gather market surveys. While it should also be noted that surveys shouldn’t replace customer interviews , they can be used to supplement customer interviews to give you feedback from a broader audience.

Who to Include in Market Surveys

Current customers
Past customers
Your existing audience (such as social media/newsletter audiences)

Example Questions to Include in Market Surveys

While the exact questions will vary for each business, here are some common, helpful questions that you may want to consider for your market survey. Demographic Questions: the questions that help you understand, demographically, who your target customers are:

“What is your age?”
“Where do you live?”
“What is your gender identity?”
“What is your household income?”
“What is your household size?”
“What do you do for a living?”
“What is your highest level of education?”

Product-Based Questions: Whether you’re seeking feedback for an existing brand or an entirely new one, these questions will help you get a sense of how people feel about your business, product, or service:

“How well does/would our product/service meet your needs?”
“How does our product/service compare to similar products/services that you use?”
“How long have you been a customer?” or “What is the likelihood that you would be a customer of our brand?

Personal/Informative Questions: the deeper questions that help you understand how your audience thinks and what they care about.

“What are your biggest challenges?”
“What’s most important to you?”
“What do you do for fun (hobbies, interests, activities)?”
“Where do you seek new information when researching a new product?”
“How do you like to make purchases?”
“What is your preferred method for interacting with a brand?”

Survey Tools

Online survey tools make it easy to distribute surveys and collect responses. The best part is that there are many free tools available. If you’re making your own online survey, you may want to consider SurveyMonkey, Typeform, Google Forms, or Zoho Survey.

Competitive Analysis

A competitive analysis is a breakdown of how your business stacks up against the competition. There are many different ways to conduct this analysis. One of the most popular methods is a SWOT analysis, which stands for “strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.” This type of analysis is helpful because it gives you a more robust understanding of why a customer might choose a competitor over your business. Seeing how you stack up against the competition can give you the direction you need to carve out your place as a market leader.

Social Media Analysis

Social media has fundamentally changed the market research landscape, making it easier than ever to engage with a wide swath of consumers. Follow your current or potential competitors on social media to see what they’re posting and how their audience is engaging with it. Social media can also give you a lower cost opportunity for testing different messaging and brand positioning.

SEO Analysis and Opportunities

SEO analysis can help you identify the digital competition for getting the word out about your brand, product, or service. You won’t want to overlook this valuable information. Search listening tools offer a novel approach to understanding the market and generating the content strategy that will drive business. Tools like Google Trends and Awario can streamline this process.

Ready to Kick Your Business Into High Gear?

Now that you’ve completed the guide to market research you know you’re ready to put on your researcher hat to give your business the best start. Still not sure how actually… launch the thing? Our free mini-course can run you through the essentials for starting your side hustle .

About Mary Kate Miller

Mary Kate Miller writes about small business, real estate, and finance. In addition to writing for Foundr, her work has been published by The Washington Post, Teen Vogue, Bustle, and more. She lives in Chicago.

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Market Research Surveys: Sample Questions + Template

Sample Questions

Creation Tips
Types of Data
Employee Feedback
Creating the Survey
Identity Protection
Research Tools

Create your own survey using a MaxDiff question and more!

Definition: Market research surveys are a tool used to collect information about a target market. These surveys allow businesses to understand market needs and preferences.

Your company can offer better products or services by understanding your target market. Often, market research surveys will also include questions about competitors. Competitor data help paint the complete picture of your target market.

Depending on your goal, you want to include different question types in your survey. Here are three general categories of question types to include:

Customer demographic questions
Product/service questions
Company/brand questions

Customer Demographic Questions

These questions will help you to understand your audience better. In addition, this data can be used to create market segments.

What is your age range?
What is your marital status?
What is the highest level of education?
What is your monthly income?
Which of the following online retailers do you use most often?
How many hours a week do you spend doing [task]?
How did you find our company?

Product or Service Questions

When researching a product or service, you want to find out what attributes customers find most valuable in addition to a proper price point. MaxDiff will help you determine what is least and most important for this type of research, while Gabor Granger and Van Westendorp will help you find the optimal price points.

Important note: Don’t ask customers what they would pay for a product or service using an input box. The data will be unreliable. Instead, we recommend using a Gabor Granger question to determine optimal price; this question mimics real-world buying decisions where random price points are evaluated.

Asking about competitors is also essential when drafting product or service questions. Understanding the competition will help your own company build better offerings.

Of the following features, which are LEAST and MOST important to you?
Does this product help solve your problems?
Is there any feature you wish a competitor offered?
Was our product easy to use?
How would you evaluate the following price points when purchasing this product?

Company/Brand Questions

When asking questions about your company or brand, the key focus should be on asking the Net Promoter Score question. This question asks, “How likely is it that you would recommend this company to a friend or colleague?” with options from 0 to 10. The overall score will range from -100 to 100 and can be benchmarked against other companies.

Some additional questions in this area could include the following

Do you understand what our brand stands for?
Of the following terms, which do you associate with our brand?
When thinking of a new [product] to buy, which of the following brands first comes to mind?

Tips to Create a Great Market Research Survey

Create an objective:.

Once you get the data, what actions will you take with it? For example, do you want to research features or pricing? Whatever the objective is, make sure it is clear. This will ensure the right questions are asked to gather valuable data.

Determine How to Collect Responses:

Do you have a customer list or want general consumers’ opinions? We recommend using your own customers as a starting point for market research surveys. Then you can add in a targeted survey panel to grab more general consumer opinions.

Here is a sample size calculator to determine your needed sample size. This data will enable you to know how many responses you need to collect based on the overall population you are studying.

Use Crosstabulation:

To spot hidden trends and relationships, use cross-tabulation . For example, you could create a cross-tabulation report for a MaxDiff question with gender. Then you can see what product each prefers features. This can be used for marketing or to decide what target market would be more profitable.

Keep Your Survey Short:

No one wants to be overwhelmed. A study by Survicate found that surveys with 1-3 questions had an 83% response rate. Use skip logic to hide irrelevant questions from users that do not meet specific criteria.

Offer Incentives:

Offer incentives! Offer respondents a discount if they take your survey. This will help drum up new business and ensure you can collect the data you need.

Why Use Market Research Surveys?

Research a target market:.

Your target market is the consumers who would find your product or service most helpful. So first, create a survey to discover opinions on a product or service and respondent demographics such as age, income level, or education level. You can segment your results from here and find out what characteristics make up your target market.

Market Segmentation:

Now that you know your general target market, a more specific group of those people is known as a segment. With the dealership example, maybe you realize consumers in your area and target market love Audi but hate BMW. Luxury cars and people of the same income level drive them, but this difference in product preference is a segment. Knowing this is key to offering the correct brands or prices.

Competitor Analysis:

Often called SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats), analyzing your competition is key to gaining market share. Go directly to consumers and ask about their opinions on competitors. Ask questions about what they do well or what you do well. Your survey results will help you identify opportunities for growth or ways your company needs to change to stay competitive.

Product Launches:

Does your product meet your customers’ needs? Sending an online product survey to customers will help you gain insights that drive improvements, consumer satisfaction, and ultimately, sales. When measuring the importance of product features, remember always to include a MaxDiff question.

Types of Market Research Data

Of course, surveys are only part of market research. You might be able to shorten your survey if you can collect data from other places first.

Primary Information (aka Field Research):

Primary market research is information YOU collect specific to your objective. This type of information is most often collected via surveys! For example, you might want to open up an arcade in a small town in the United States. You can send out a survey to a sample of the town’s residents to get demographic information and if they are willing to visit your arcade.

Secondary Information (aka Desk Research):

Secondary market research is information YOU DO NOT collect specific to your objective. This type of data is already available to you in public government databases, journals, publications, or even Google! For example, let’s say you were interested in starting your luxury car dealership. You could look at government census data for income levels for your target market before conducting your detailed research. Secondary information should help narrow down what preliminary information you need to collect.

ABOUT THE AUTOR

Allen is the founder of SurveyKing. A former CPA and government auditor, he understands how important quality data is in decision making. He continues to help SurveyKing accomplish their main goal: providing organizations around the world with low-cost high-quality feedback tools.

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Market Survey: Definition, Objectives, Types, and Process

When a company grows, decision-making needs to shift from intuition to data. That’s where market surveys come in. Be it a small business or big brand, everyone conducts market surveys to launch new products, gather customer feedback, and mine market insights. And that’s why Upreports – leading market research company India – is here with this detailed guide on market surveys!

Let’s start by understanding what’s a market survey:

Market survey definition

Market survey means a collection of first-hand data from customers, vendors, stakeholders, or the general public.

Market surveys are usually conducted to gather data so that better marketing, growth, and product decisions can be made.

Market survey objectives

Businesses conduct market surveys for a vast range of reasons. The data during a market survey can be about:

Pricing trends
Customer expectations
Competitors
Preferences
Market trends
Comparisons

The objective of a market survey is to:

Understand competitors
Understand customers and stakeholders
Gather customer feedback
Measure market dynamics
Market trends

Market survey is majorly conducted offline but nowadays businesses also conduct online surveys to reduce cost and save time.

How to conduct a market survey?

Conducting a marketing survey is a complex process that starts with answering the following questions:

Why are you conducting a survey?
What do you want to find out?
Which geographical region do you want to cover?
Which demographics do you want to target?

Once it is done, it’s time to go ahead and think about the survey questionnaire.

Preparing a market research questionnaire

According to global findings, 52% of surveyors said they don’t like to spend more than 3 minutes filling out a survey. This makes questionnaire planning a highly critical step. It’s also critical because it is the point of interaction between your company and existing/potential customers.

Some tips for preparing a market survey questionnaires:

Use simple questions
The phrase in the language your audience understands
Don’t exceed more than 15 questions.
Use the MCQ form for QAs.
Run your questionnaire through a test group.

Discover how we conducted the market survey for a US-based equity firm

Conducting survey.

Now that you have done the planning and paperwork, it’s time to conduct the actual survey. As we mentioned earlier, surveys can be conducted in two ways:

Offline survey

For conducting an offline survey, you need a team on the ground. Prepare the same and brief them about your survey goals, budget, and timeline.

Online survey

There are many ways to take an online survey. Emailing your subscribers, posting it on social media, or conducting on-call interviews to fill the surveys are some popular options. Read in detail about how to conduct an online survey

Analyze the data

Conducting a survey means nothing unless you analyze the data and derive findings from it. Using survey tools like Google Forms and Survey Monkey makes it easy to analyze the data.

types of market survey and it's processes

Upreports: Top market research company in India

Upreports is a team of top-rated market research experts that delivers cutting-edge survey planning and research services to local as well as global brands. Whether you wish to conduct online research to gather customer feedback or plan an offline survey to understand Indian audiences, Upreports can make it happen.

Being one of the leading marketing research companies in India, we use a comprehensive process to plan and execute surveys. Having conducted offline market surveys and online research for leading entrepreneurs and equity firms, we have the experience and expertise to handle yours as well.

Email us at [email protected] to inquire about your survey goals.

Learn about our most popular digital marketing services:

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4 thoughts on “ Market Survey: Definition, Objectives, Types, and Process ”

I read this article fully concerning the difference of latest and preceding technologies

nice post and nice arguments commented here

Hello sir , I want to conduct a Product survey for my new startup . Please let me know how you guys can help me with this.

Thanks for the comment, Rakshit! As we spoke over the phone, please drop an email and we can proceed. Cheers!

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Market Research Surveys – Types, Steps, Tips, & 20+ Questions

Sameer Bhatia

Founder and CEO - ProProfs

Review Board Member

Sameer Bhatia is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of ProProfs.com. He believes that software should make you happy and is driven to create a 100-year company that delivers delightfully smart software with awesome support. His favorite word is 'delight,' and he dislikes the term 'customer satisfaction,' as he believes that 'satisfaction' is a low bar and users must get nothing less than a delightful experience at ProProfs. Sameer holds a Masters in Computer Science from the University of Southern California (USC). He lives in Santa Monica with his wife & two daughters. Read less

Market Research Specialist

Emma David, a seasoned market research professional, specializes in employee engagement, survey administration, and data management. Her expertise in leveraging data for informed decisions has positively impacted several brands, enhancing their market position.

Market Research Surveys - Types, Steps, Tips, & 20+ Questions

Are you tired of feeling like your business is constantly falling behind the competition? No matter what you do, you just can’t seem to catch up! As a business owner, it can be frustrating to watch your sales decline and not know what you’re doing wrong. The answer to this lies in a powerful tool that has helped many business owners stay ahead of the game — market research surveys. By conducting these surveys, you can make data-driven decisions to improve your products, services, and marketing strategies. In this guide, we’ll provide you with a quick overview of market research surveys, including what they are, why they’re important, how to conduct them, their purpose, types, benefits, actionable tips, and more. So, let’s dive in and explore how market analysis surveys can help you grow your business in 2023.

What Is a Market Research Survey?

A market research survey is a questionnaire designed to gather data from a specific group of people about their opinions and preferences related to a particular product, service, or industry. According to a Statista report, among all the quantitative methods used for market research, online surveys account for a major share of 89%.

Market research surveys differ from other types of surveys because they are specifically designed for a particular market or industry. They are typically more focused and targeted than general surveys. These surveys can provide valuable insights into customer preferences, behavior, and opinions. This information can then be used to improve products and services, develop more effective marketing strategies, and stay ahead of the competition.

Purpose of Market Research Surveys

Just like it takes extensive skills to be a winner in the playing field, similarly, you need deep insights to steer any new concept or product deftly enough to win the market.

Let’s explore a few reasons why businesses employ market research surveys:

1. Gather Actionable Insights

Conducting market research surveys can help businesses make data-driven decisions, improve their products and services, and develop more effective marketing strategies. These surveys provide businesses with objective data that can be used to make informed decisions. By gathering data directly from customers, businesses can better understand their needs and preferences.

2. Improve Product Quality

Imagine this: You are a software provider and find it challenging to understand the specific features, functionalities, and integrations that would best cater to your target customers’ needs. To ensure that you develop a product that truly meets their requirements, who better to provide valuable insights than your customers themselves? In a situation like this, a market research survey can get you the right data on customer preferences that you can use further to develop new products that better meet their needs.

3. Validate The Demand

The probability of your product failing amplifies when you are planning to launch a product and then trying to find potential buyers. Well, to keep such a situation at bay, validate the demand and profitability of your product before diving into the production/development process. Market research surveys could help you attain the desired customer, market, and competitor’s data to save both the cost and efforts that could end up wasted otherwise.

Read More: Product Market Fit: An Ultimate Guide

4. Make Products Cost-Effective

Budget often remains a potential concern for businesses while planning to launch a new product in the market. Hence, incorporating the survey for market research helps you avoid huge losses. Depending on other sources, such as focus group discussions, can limit the responses to a certain number of participants and usually requires massive budgets. On the other hand, the availability of Market Survey tools makes it more effective to garner advanced market insights while saving a lot of time and money.

5. Understand Competitor Products Better

What can you do to keep your customers from switching to your competitors? Well, the foremost is to offer a better deal after analyzing your competitors’ data. For example, if you are unaware of the competitive prices of a similar product, you might end up charging way more than the prevailing prices. In doing that, you will lose a large chunk of your potential market and eventually take your product toward failure.

Read More: What is the Purpose of Surveys & What Are Its Benefits ?

How Market Research Surveys Can Help Your Business

The scope for market research services is expanding rapidly, showing a significant interest in market research as we enter 2023. The global revenue of the market research industry exceeded 81 billion U.S. dollars in 2022 and has grown more than twofold since 2008.

If you want to stay ahead of the competition, it’s time to start investing in market research surveys. Here are some benefits of conducting these surveys:

Understand your customers Market research surveys can help you understand your customers’ needs, preferences, and behaviors. This information can help you improve your products and services and tailor your marketing strategies to better meet your customers’ needs.
Identify market trends Market research surveys can help you identify market trends and steer ahead of your peers. By understanding what’s popular and what’s not, you can adjust your products and services to cater to the changing needs of your target audience.
Improve customer satisfaction Market research surveys can help you identify areas where your customers are dissatisfied and make improvements to increase customer satisfaction. This can lead to increased customer loyalty and retention.

Optimize pricing strategies Market research surveys can help you determine the optimal price points for your products and services. By understanding what your customers are willing to pay, you can set prices that are competitive and profitable.
Make informed business decisions By gathering data and insights through market research surveys, you can make informed business decisions. This can help you minimize risks and maximize opportunities for growth and success.

Here is a quick video on how to access recent activity reports for your surveys:

How to Conduct a Market Research Survey?

While jotting down all the factors to create market research surveys, it’s best to keep your business objectives in mind. This will help you craft relevant questions that can fetch detailed and accurate insights.

It is also important to remember that there’s no such thing as the ‘best market research survey questions’ because it is a widely subjective industry with different demands and requirements.

Market research surveys could cover a wide range of topics to effectively gauge deep market insights, and because of the nature of your queries and business goals, the types of questions included in a survey will also differ.

Follow through this section to discover some of the best ways to nail your market research efforts via effective surveys:

1. Determine the target audience & sample size:

Before creating a survey, determine who your target audience is and how many people you need to survey to get accurate insights.

For example, if you’re conducting a survey about a new product, your target audience would be potential customers. Also, ensure that your sample size is large enough because a small survey pool is prone to doling out skewed results.

Read More: How to Find Survey Participants & Respondents

Here are some examples of market research goals stated as examples:

What other products are similar to our brand?
Who are our top competitors?
What do customers like most about a competitor’s new product/service?
What made people choose another company over ours?

2. Develop a set of survey questions that are clear, concise, and unbiased

The survey questions should be designed to collect the information that is relevant to your research objectives. It’s important to use clear and concise language to avoid confusion or misinterpretation. Avoid using leading questions or questions that are biased towards a certain answer. For example, asking a double-barreled question like “How important is it for the product to be fast and user-friendly?” will not get you separate insights on how users prefer user-friendliness or fast products. Here, asking the questions separately could get you more precise data than otherwise.

Read More: Survey Question: 250+Examples, Types & Best Practice

3. Distribute the surveys & collect responses

Once the survey is created, it’s time to distribute it to the target audience. There are several ways to distribute a survey, such as via email, social media, direct links, or embedding it on your website. It’s important to choose the appropriate distribution method that is most convenient for the target audience. As the survey is distributed, responses will start to come in. Keep track of the responses and ensure that all responses are recorded accurately. You can use ProProfs Survey Maker to automate this process, as the app has a feature to collect and analyze the responses in its built-in dashboard without requiring manual handling.

4. Incentivize participation to increase response rates

Offering an incentive, such as a discount or a chance to win a prize, can increase survey participation rates. However, it should also be noted that perks such as monetary incentives could skew the results by making them speak only positively about your brand – resulting in erroneous data. Go for an incentive that offers a free initial subscription to a premium product or service, urging the respondents to be glued to your brand for long periods rather than walking away after collecting discount coupons.

5. Ask relevant questions & follow up regularly

Ensure the survey questions are focused on gathering data that is relevant to the business’s goals. This helps increase the probability that the insights gained are actionable. As the next step, test the survey with a small group of people to help to identify any issues with the survey questions or the survey platform. Amidst all this, don’t forget to follow up with your targets regularly. Following up is the gesture to gently remind people who might have missed completing your survey in their busy lives. Once you are in the middle of your first phase, consider sending follow-ups to the participants who haven’t completed their surveys yet. Also, if you aren’t already offering incentives, include them with follow-ups to ensure better response rates.

Read More: Proven Tips to Avoid Leading and Loaded Questions in Your Survey

Types of Market Research Surveys

Considering the plausible benefits associated with market research surveys, professionals across the globe leverage several ways to garner market insights for their upcoming products. Let’s discuss some common ways:

1. Brand Awareness Survey

Have you ever wondered how well-known your brand is among your target audience? Conduct a brand awareness survey to find it out! This type of survey is designed to measure how familiar your target audience is with your brand and how well they recognize it.

Brand awareness surveys can be helpful in several ways. Firstly, it can help you identify any gaps in your brand awareness strategy. For example, if your target audience is not familiar with your brand, you may need to focus on increasing visibility through marketing campaigns or social media. Secondly, it can help benchmark your performance against your competitors. This lets you understand how your brand is perceived in the market and scope out areas for improvement. When designing a brand awareness survey, it’s important to ask questions that measure both aided and unaided brand awareness.

Aided awareness refers to how well your target audience recognizes your brand when they are given a prompt, such as a logo or a tagline.
Unaided awareness refers to how well your target audience recognizes your brand without any prompts. It’s important to ask both types of questions to get a complete picture of your brand awareness.

In addition, you can ask questions about your brand’s reputation and attributes. This can help you understand how your brand is perceived by your target audience and identify areas for improvement. The business insights gleaned from such surveys are used to gauge and improve purchase decisions among both existing and potential customers. For example, you can use these questions to make the most out of your brand awareness surveys:

What is the first brand you think of to purchase an XYZ product? (Characters remaining 100)
What aspects can we improve on our existing product? (Characters remaining 500)
What words come to mind when you think of our brand? (Characters remaining 100)
How would you describe our brand to a friend? (Characters remaining 100)

2. Customer Satisfaction Surveys

A Customer Satisfaction Survey measures how satisfied customers are with their experience of a particular product or service. It’s a great way to get feedback from customers and understand how well your business is meeting their needs and expectations.

The main goal of a Customer Satisfaction Survey is to identify areas where your business is doing well and areas where it can improve. By measuring satisfaction and gathering feedback, businesses can identify areas for improvement and develop effective strategies to enhance the customer experience. This can lead to increased customer loyalty, better word-of-mouth marketing, and, ultimately, more business.

But what makes a good Customer Satisfaction Survey?

Well, it’s important to ask questions that are clear, concise, and unbiased. You want to get honest feedback from your customers, so it’s important to avoid leading questions or questions that are too general. Also, make sure that the survey is easy to complete and not too time-consuming.

Read More: 15 Best Online Survey Tools & Software in 2022

3. Product Feedback Surveys

Needless to say, a lot of products exist that offer exactly the same features and cater to the similar needs of the people just as your own products. If you want to know how you are faring against your competitors, a Product Feedback survey is your best bet.

Product Feedback surveys aim to understand how customers use your products or services, what they like about them, and what they don’t like. This can help businesses make informed decisions about product development, marketing, and customer service. By listening to customer feedback, businesses can improve their products or services and create a better customer experience. Product feedback surveys also provide you with a data-centric understanding of your existing products. This will not only help you with your new product launch but also let your customers test out your existing products to understand what’s best about them and what could be improved.

Read More: Product Feedback Surveys: Questions, Examples & Types

4. Market Segmentation Surveys

Market Segmentation Surveys are a type of survey that helps businesses divide their target market into smaller groups based on specific characteristics, such as demographics, interests, or behaviors.

It’s a great way to understand the different segments of your target audience and tailor your marketing campaigns to each group based on their unique needs and preferences. This can help your brand develop effective marketing strategies that resonate with each group and drive more sales.

To make your survey stand out, you should:

Clearly define the specific characteristics you want to measure. This will help you tailor your questions to gather the most relevant information.
Avoid using complex language or industry jargon that may confuse respondents. Use concise and easy-to-understand questions instead to get the data that you can actually use.
Take the time to analyze your survey results and identify the different segments within your target audience. Use this information to tailor your marketing campaigns to each group and improve your overall business strategy.

5. Concept Testing Surveys

If you are a business owner considering launching a new product or service, you might want to consider using concept testing surveys to evaluate your ideas before launching them! Concept testing surveys allow you to gather feedback from potential customers on your product or service concept. Using these, you can identify potential issues or areas for improvement before investing in the development and launch of a new product or service. This feedback considerably reduces the risk of a new launch failing simply because it doesn’t resonate with your target audience. Additionally, these surveys can help you figure out the shortcomings in your existing products. By gathering feedback on specific features or benefits, you can make changes to better meet the needs of your target audience.

They are usually conducted online or through phone interviews, where the respondents are asked to provide feedback on the features, benefits, and overall appeal of your product or service.

6. Advertising Effectiveness Surveys

As important as launching business campaigns are, it is equally important to gauge how effective they are in achieving their goals, lest your budget is squandered for nothing.

That’s where advertising effectiveness surveys come in. These surveys are designed to measure how well your advertising is working and how it’s impacting your target audience.
They typically gather feedback on your advertising, such as-
How memorable it is
How persuasive it is
Whether it’s driving them to take action, etc.

These surveys get you in-depth feedback on how well your ad strategies are resonating with your target audience, which, in turn, can help you make informed decisions about how to improve your advertising campaigns and make them more effective.

Additionally, you can identify which advertising channels are working best for your business. For example, you might find that your social media advertising is more effective than print advertising. This will help you allocate your advertising budget more effectively and get the most out of your campaigns.

7. Pricing Research Surveys

As one of the most important types of market research surveys out there, these surveys are all about determining the right price for your product or service. Pricing Research surveys might ask questions like, “How much would you be willing to pay for this product?” or “Do you think this product is too expensive?” to gain valuable insights into how your target audience perceives the value of your product or service.

This feedback can help you make informed decisions about how to maximize sales and profitability. Additionally, Pricing Research surveys can help you identify which pricing strategies are most effective for your business. For example, you might find that offering a discount or bundling your product with another product is more effective than simply lowering the price.

7 Tips for Creating Effective Market Research Surveys

With so many factors to consider, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and end up with a survey that doesn’t provide the insights you need. But fear not! With these tips and tricks, you can create a market research survey that not only provides valuable insights but also engages your target audience.

1. Define your research objectives:

Before creating a survey, it’s important to define your research objectives. What do you want to learn from the survey? What decisions will you make based on the results? Having clear research objectives will help you create a focused and effective survey.

2. Keep it short and simple:

People are more likely to complete a survey if it’s short and easy to understand. Keep your survey concise, and avoid using technical jargon or complex language.

3. Eliminate survey bias:

Make sure your survey is free of various forms of bias, such as-

Sampling bias
Acceptance and dissent bias
Question order bias
Personal bias

4. Use clear and specific questions:

Your survey questions should be clear and specific to avoid confusion or misinterpretation. Avoid asking leading questions or questions that are too general.

5. Use a mix of question types:

Using a mix of question types, such as multiple-choice, open-ended, and rating scales, can provide more comprehensive insights into your target audience.

Read More: Different Question Types for Surveys and What They Mean

6. Test your survey:

Before distributing your survey to your target audience, test it with a small group of people to ensure it’s effective and easy to understand.

7. Consider the timing and distribution method:

Timing and distribution methods can impact response rates. Consider the best time to distribute the survey and the most effective distribution method for your target audience.

Read More: How to Fix Survey Problems: Your Ultimate Guide

20+ Market Research Questions for Your Survey Campaigns

Given are some sample market research questions for your survey campaigns, categorized by survey type. Concept Testing Surveys:

How appealing is the concept of our new product/service?
Which features of our product/service are most appealing to you?
How likely are you to purchase our product/service?
What do you think is the main benefit of our product/service?
How does our product/service compare to our competitors’ offerings?

Brand Awareness Surveys:

Have you heard of our brand before?
What do you know about our brand?
How likely are you to recommend our brand to a friend?
What comes to mind when you think of our brand?
How likely are you to purchase from our brand in the future?

Customer Satisfaction Surveys:

How satisfied are you with our product/service?
How likely are you to purchase from us again?
How responsive is our customer service team?
How easy is it to use our product/service?
How well does our product/service meet your needs?

Market Segmentation Surveys:

What is your age?
What is your gender?
What is your income level?
What is your occupation?
What is your educational background?

Pricing Research Surveys:

How much would you be willing to pay for our product/service?
How does the price of our product/service compare to our competitors’ offerings?
What pricing strategy would be most appealing to you?
How does the price of our product/service impact your purchase decision?
What is the maximum amount you would be willing to pay for our product/service?

Remember, these are just sample questions. You should tailor your survey questions to your specific business needs and target audience. By asking the right questions, you will be able to uncover precious data that will drive well-informed decisions for your business!

Create a Strong Market Research Survey Regime to Dominate Your Field

Have you ever wondered what your customers really want? What sets you apart from your competitors? What are the latest trends in your industry? These are the questions that market research surveys can answer for you. But, designing a survey that yields accurate and reliable data can be challenging. That’s why it’s essential to ensure that your survey is well-structured, relevant, and easy to understand. Once you’ve collected the data, it’s equally important to analyze it thoroughly and use the insights gained to make informed decisions. As Peter Drucker famously said, “What gets measured, gets managed.” market research surveys are a powerful tool for businesses of all sizes to achieve their goals and stay ahead of the competition. So, don’t wait any longer. Start your survey today with a modern market research solution such as ProProfs Survey Maker and take your business to new heights!

About the author

Emma David is a seasoned market research professional with 8+ years of experience. Having kick-started her journey in research, she has developed rich expertise in employee engagement, survey creation and administration, and data management. Emma believes in the power of data to shape business performance positively. She continues to help brands and businesses make strategic decisions and improve their market standing through her understanding of research methodologies.

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How To Do Market Research: Definition, Types, Methods

Jan 2, 2024

11 min. read

Market research isn’t just collecting data. It’s a strategic tool that allows businesses to gain a competitive advantage while making the best use of their resources. Research reveals valuable insights into your target audience about their preferences, buying habits, and emerging demands — all of which help you unlock new opportunities to grow your business.

When done correctly, market research can minimize risks and losses, spur growth, and position you as a leader in your industry.

Let’s explore the basic building blocks of market research and how to collect and use data to move your company forward:

Table of Contents

What Is Market Research?

Why is market research important, market analysis example, 5 types of market research, what are common market research questions, what are the limitations of market research, how to do market research, improving your market research with radarly.

Market Research Definition: The process of gathering, analyzing, and interpreting information about a market or audience.

Market research studies consumer behavior to better understand how they perceive products or services. These insights help businesses identify ways to grow their current offering, create new products or services, and improve brand trust and brand recognition .

You might also hear market research referred to as market analysis or consumer research .

Traditionally, market research has taken the form of focus groups, surveys, interviews, and even competitor analysis . But with modern analytics and research tools, businesses can now capture deeper insights from a wider variety of sources, including social media, online reviews, and customer interactions. These extra layers of intel can help companies gain a more comprehensive understanding of their audience.

With consumer preferences and markets evolving at breakneck speeds, businesses need a way to stay in touch with what people need and want. That’s why the importance of market research cannot be overstated.

Market research offers a proactive way to identify these trends and make adjustments to product development, marketing strategies , and overall operations. This proactive approach can help businesses stay ahead of the curve and remain agile as markets shift.

Market research examples abound — given the number of ways companies can get inside the minds of their customers, simply skimming through your business’s social media comments can be a form of market research.

A restaurant chain might use market research methods to learn more about consumers’ evolving dining habits. These insights might be used to offer new menu items, re-examine their pricing strategies, or even open new locations in different markets, for example.

A consumer electronics company might use market research for similar purposes. For instance, market research may reveal how consumers are using their smart devices so they can develop innovative features.

Market research can be applied to a wide range of use cases, including:

Testing new product ideas
Improve existing products
Entering new markets
Right-sizing their physical footprints
Improving brand image and awareness
Gaining insights into competitors via competitive intelligence

Ultimately, companies can lean on market research techniques to stay ahead of trends and competitors while improving the lives of their customers.

Market research methods take different forms, and you don’t have to limit yourself to just one. Let’s review the most common market research techniques and the insights they deliver.

1. Interviews

3. Focus Groups

4. Observations

5. AI-Driven Market Research

One-on-one interviews are one of the most common market research techniques. Beyond asking direct questions, skilled interviewers can uncover deeper motivations and emotions that drive purchasing decisions. Researchers can elicit more detailed and nuanced responses they might not receive via other methods, such as self-guided surveys.

Interviews also create the opportunity to build rapport with customers and prospects. Establishing a connection with interviewees can encourage them to open up and share their candid thoughts, which can enrich your findings. Researchers also have the opportunity to ask clarifying questions and dig deeper based on individual responses.

Market research surveys provide an easy entry into the consumer psyche. They’re cost-effective to produce and allow researchers to reach lots of people in a short time. They’re also user-friendly for consumers, which allows companies to capture more responses from more people.

Big data and data analytics are making traditional surveys more valuable. Researchers can apply these tools to elicit a deeper understanding from responses and uncover hidden patterns and correlations within survey data that were previously undetectable.

The ways in which surveys are conducted are also changing. With the rise of social media and other online channels, brands and consumers alike have more ways to engage with each other, lending to a continuous approach to market research surveys.

3. Focus groups

Focus groups are “group interviews” designed to gain collective insights. This interactive setting allows participants to express their thoughts and feelings openly, giving researchers richer insights beyond yes-or-no responses.

focus group as part of a market research

One of the key benefits of using focus groups is the opportunity for participants to interact with one another. They spark discussions while sharing diverse viewpoints. These sessions can uncover underlying motivations and attitudes that may not be easily expressed through other research methods.

Observing your customers “in the wild” might feel informal, but it can be one of the most revealing market research techniques of all. That’s because you might not always know the right questions to ask. By simply observing, you can surface insights you might not have known to look for otherwise.

This method also delivers raw, authentic, unfiltered data. There’s no room for bias and no potential for participants to accidentally skew the data. Researchers can also pick up on non-verbal cues and gestures that other research methods may fail to capture.

5. AI-driven market research

One of the newer methods of market research is the use of AI-driven market research tools to collect and analyze insights on your behalf. AI customer intelligence tools and consumer insights software like Meltwater Radarly take an always-on approach by going wherever your audience is and continuously predicting behaviors based on current behaviors.

By leveraging advanced algorithms, machine learning, and big data analysis , AI enables companies to uncover deep-seated patterns and correlations within large datasets that would be near impossible for human researchers to identify. This not only leads to more accurate and reliable findings but also allows businesses to make informed decisions with greater confidence.

Tip: Learn how to use Meltwater as a research tool , how Meltwater uses AI , and learn more about consumer insights and about consumer insights in the fashion industry .

No matter the market research methods you use, market research’s effectiveness lies in the questions you ask. These questions should be designed to elicit honest responses that will help you reach your goals.

Examples of common market research questions include:

Demographic market research questions

What is your age range?
What is your occupation?
What is your household income level?
What is your educational background?
What is your gender?

Product or service usage market research questions

How long have you been using [product/service]?
How frequently do you use [product/service]?
What do you like most about [product/service]?
Have you experienced any problems using [product/service]?
How could we improve [product/service]?
Why did you choose [product/service] over a competitor’s [product/service]?

Brand perception market research questions

How familiar are you with our brand?
What words do you associate with our brand?
How do you feel about our brand?
What makes you trust our brand?
What sets our brand apart from competitors?
What would make you recommend our brand to others?

Buying behavior market research questions

What do you look for in a [product/service]?
What features in a [product/service] are important to you?
How much time do you need to choose a [product/service]?
How do you discover new products like [product/service]?
Do you prefer to purchase [product/service] online or in-store?
How do you research [product/service] before making a purchase?
How often do you buy [product/service]?
How important is pricing when buying [product/service]?
What would make you switch to another brand of [product/service]?

Customer satisfaction market research questions

How happy have you been with [product/service]?
What would make you more satisfied with [product/service]?
How likely are you to continue using [product/service]?

Bonus Tip: Compiling these questions into a market research template can streamline your efforts.

Market research can offer powerful insights, but it also has some limitations. One key limitation is the potential for bias. Researchers may unconsciously skew results based on their own preconceptions or desires, which can make your findings inaccurate.

Depending on your market research methods, your findings may be outdated by the time you sit down to analyze and act on them. Some methods struggle to account for rapidly changing consumer preferences and behaviors.
There’s also the risk of self-reported data (common in online surveys). Consumers might not always accurately convey their true feelings or intentions. They might provide answers they think researchers are looking for or misunderstand the question altogether.
There’s also the potential to miss emerging or untapped markets . Researchers are digging deeper into what (or who) they already know. This means you might be leaving out a key part of the story without realizing it.

Still, the benefits of market research cannot be understated, especially when you supplement traditional market research methods with modern tools and technology.

Let’s put it all together and explore how to do market research step-by-step to help you leverage all its benefits.

Step 1: Define your objectives

You’ll get more from your market research when you hone in on a specific goal : What do you want to know, and how will this knowledge help your business?

This step will also help you define your target audience. You’ll need to ask the right people the right questions to collect the information you want. Understand the characteristics of the audience and what gives them authority to answer your questions.

Step 2: Select your market research methods

Choose one or more of the market research methods (interviews, surveys, focus groups, observations, and/or AI-driven tools) to fuel your research strategy.

Certain methods might work better than others for specific goals . For example, if you want basic feedback from customers about a product, a simple survey might suffice. If you want to hone in on serious pain points to develop a new product, a focus group or interview might work best.

You can also source secondary research , such as industry reports or analyses from large market research firms. These can help you gather preliminary information and inform your approach.

team analyzing the market research results

Step 3: Develop your research tools

Prior to working with participants, you’ll need to craft your survey or interview questions, interview guides, and other tools. These tools will help you capture the right information , weed out non-qualifying participants, and keep your information organized.

You should also have a system for recording responses to ensure data accuracy and privacy. Test your processes before speaking with participants so you can spot and fix inefficiencies or errors.

Step 4: Conduct the market research

With a system in place, you can start looking for candidates to contribute to your market research. This might include distributing surveys to current customers or recruiting participants who fit a specific profile, for example.

Set a time frame for conducting your research. You might collect responses over the course of a few days, weeks, or even months. If you’re using AI tools to gather data, choose a data range for your data to focus on the most relevant information.

Step 5: Analyze and apply your findings

Review your findings while looking for trends and patterns. AI tools can come in handy in this phase by analyzing large amounts of data on your behalf.

Compile your findings into an easy-to-read report and highlight key takeaways and next steps. Reports aren’t useful unless the reader can understand and act on them.

Tip: Learn more about trend forecasting , trend detection , and trendspotting .

Meltwater’s Radarly consumer intelligence suite helps you reap the benefits of market research on an ongoing basis. Using a combination of AI, data science, and market research expertise, Radarly scans multiple global data sources to learn what people are talking about, the actions they’re taking, and how they’re feeling about specific brands.

Meltwater Radarly screenshot for market research

Our tools are created by market research experts and designed to help researchers uncover what they want to know (and what they don’t know they want to know). Get data-driven insights at scale with information that’s always relevant, always accurate, and always tailored to your organization’s needs.

Learn more when you request a demo by filling out the form below:

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Market Research Survey: The Absolute Guide to Conducting Surveys for Your Business

Strategy for success in consumer marketing involves acquiring intimate knowledge about your consumers. Make your marketing a success with these techniques.

In order to navigate the world of business in the 21st century, every move you make must be done with confidence and strategy. Much like in a game of chess - only with far higher stakes - every decision that is made in and for your business has to be done with a purpose in mind; it can take just one false move to lose, whereas winning requires constant vigilance and wherewithal.

One of the most common failings experienced by both new entrepreneurs and seasoned business veterans alike is that they underestimate the importance of market research.

To err is human, and businesses often fail due to circumstances outside of their owner’s control.

Where does the market research survey come in? It can help you get a better understanding into the minds of the customers you serve.

In this article, we’ll discuss everything you need to know about conducting quality market research for any product or service: the concepts behind market research, how to get quality customer feedback, the costs associated with surveying for our products and services, and where to find the best free marketing tools that are going to help us reach our key customer demographics.

Without any further ado, let’s take a look at the structure of what makes up a successful research strategy.

What a Market Research Survey is - and Why You Should Care

A market research survey is designed to capture valuable information from consumers that can then be turned into something actionable.

Information like consumer preferences, sentiment, favored services, and purchasing habits can be used to create clearer consumer profiles for our target markets.

A consumer profile is a mock representation of our target consumer or consumer groups.

These profiles often contain descriptions of demographics, buying patterns, personal interests, income, and intimate traits like brand affinity and shared geographic location . When you are able to clearly visualize the people you’re trying to sell your product or service to, the path to increasing our market share becomes clear.

Activities related to market research are ones that gather data about your target market. Marketing as we know it was only conceived within the last 100 years - but has now become a crucial core element of any company.

Quality market research strategies not only help us gain a better understanding of how we can reach our consumers - it allows us to take better risks, avoid mistakes, and navigate the ever-changing landscape of consumer tastes and market trends. Through the development of intimate consumer profiles and sound marketing strategy, we can meet the needs of our customers like never before!

Developing Your Market Research Strategy

With digital surveying, anyone with an internet-capable device can now conduct the kind of quality, in-depth consumer research that was previously only available to market research firms and large, established companies.

In order to better understand the basics, we'll look some testing I conducted using Helpfull’s intuitive A/B testing methodology.

A/B testing - otherwise known as split-run testing - involves asking respondents to pick between two or more alternatives. These are incredibly simple to design and tend attract a large volume of respondents in a short amount of time; the results that they garner can lend important insight into the psyche of your consumer, and have a major impact on your business decisions.

For this example, we posed as a novice author in need of help with choosing a book title. We’ve already culled down a greater list of book title concepts privately, and presented the remaining six to an audience of 100 Helpfull pollsters:

The Cracked Crown
A Kingdom Besieged
Catalyst: Rise from Ashes
The Last Mage
The Golden Blade
The Hope of a Doomed Kingdom

By allowing respondents to choose which title they feel best fits our upcoming fantasy/adventure novel and comment why they’ve made their pick, we’re looking to gain a better understanding of what elements of our book titles do and do not work.

Ultimately, what is returned to us is a ranked order list of our titles ranging from most popular to least. Even more importantly, we’re given 100 unique consumer insights as to what our test audiences thought about our title suggestions.

Panelist response on Market Research Strategy

These consumer insights will play a crucial role in the way you develop your business decisions. Each bubble is a unique look inside the mind of our audiences - and the “why” behind their decision making can be far more useful for our purposes than the decision itself.

consumer insights for business related decisions

Oftentimes, we are able to immediately incorporate insightful consumer feedback into our designs. This pollster’s helpful advice was what ultimately allowed us to develop our winning book title. After two more rounds of audience testing and polling, our consumer research efforts bore fruit. Our final book title - Frozen Ashes: A Kingdom Under Siege. Oh - we've got chills! We can use cases of feedback success like this to bolster our confidence in our designs and help us reach our goals.

While not every comment or consideration is bound to be insightful, they are ultimately meaningful by virtue of their existence. They each represent an individual consumer -someone who influences the market with their spending, who makes regular purchasing decisions, and that could ultimately wind up in your customer database.

Designing an Effective Target Market Survey

Not all customer surveys are created equal, and no two customers are wholly alike. The best way to ensure the success of your consumer research is by pairing the right questions to the right people.

In order to get the most out of your time, money, and effort, you’ll need to make sure you have a clear understanding of what goal you’re hoping to achieve with your research. The best way to do this is to consider the different kind of survey marketing activities and what they are used for. Then, it’s all about finding the one that most closely matches your concerns, developing your questions, and finding the correct target audience.

For this section, we will be taking a look at the four different categories of market research and how these differ in both purpose and design. Afterwards, we’ll talk briefly on the importance of choosing the right demographics when disseminating your questions.

Types of Market Research

Product Surveys
Brand Surveys
Market Surveys
Customer Service Surveys

Product Surveys are an integral part of product development, as they allow us to determine what features & benefits are most sought after by consumers. Questioning related to packaging design & shipping methods also fall under this branch of test.

One research method is what’s known as product positioning . These are designed to reveal how respondents view a particular product in comparison to other products inside of the same product market. One example is a survey that asks pollsters to rate five different soft drinks (all produced by Coca Cola) on a favorability scale of 1-5 - with 5 denoting “most favorite”, and 1 denoting “least favorite”.

By learning how your products that compete in the same product line or market space compare in the mind of a consumer, you will gain a better understanding of what sorts of product improvements we need to be making. Having a clear idea of how your customers view your products is crucial for crafting a successful strategy.

Other Product Surveys:

New Product Concept Analysis
Consumer Habits & Uses
Product Fulfillment
Price Setting
Sales Forecasting & Market Tracking
Price Elasticity Analysis

Brand surveys are those that better allow marketers to understand how people view their brand. Those pertaining to the exploration of psychological associations, emotional resonance, and parity as they relate to brands are all fall under this umbrella. These will give you insight into how a consumer views your brand in relation to competing firms, how they view individual elements, and what sentiments they hold about your organization.

One of the most common and useful forms seek to identify & analyze the value being generated by our brand efforts - like an advertising campaign. Creating and maintaining unique, resonant imagery is vital to the success of all businesses competing in a digital marketplace. In order to find out if your advertising works, one method you can employ involves asking respondents to share the emotions & value judgements they make about your advertising material.

In this example, we created a mock set of branding concepts for a theoretical cosmetic company, Hush . We then asked our audiences to share the “sorts of images or emotions” that our brand evokes in their mind.

panelist comments on advertising campaign

The phrases & keywords our respondents use to relate to our desired image (sexy, simplicity, playful), we as marketers are able to gauge the effectiveness of our advertising. As we are posing as a company that produces products oriented towards young women & a club-nightlife atmosphere, these value judgments the respondents are making tells us that our branding is on the correct course. Were our audiences to share a completely off-base assessment on the outcome of our marketing plans, we could work to adapt & change our branding to better fit our desired market position.

Other Brand Surveys:

Equity Analysis
Messaging Effectiveness

Market surveys are those that look to gather information about the demographics of your target market - as well as their wants and needs. Without knowing the demographics and desires of your target audience, you can never be sure there is going to be the right market size necessary for your company to stay afloat.

Some of the most ubiquitous forms of surveying are those designed to gather information for the purposes of profiling & market segmentation. Demographic information like age, sex, household income, and geographic location can all influence the designs your strategy will need to adopt in order to succeed.

An example of market segmentation research in action involves asking the respondent relevant personal information, like their political standing. A customer’s political beliefs can have a major impact on their purchasing habits, and as such the information is very valuable to marketers. In this example, recipients were asked to self-describe their political leanings; this was done in the context of being able to gather consumer sentiments about current events across the political spectrum.

With this information like this, you can create a clearer profile of your consumer base. As it has been stressed throughout this article, your consumer profiles will never be too clear or accurate - the more information you’re able to gain from your customer, the better you will be able to meet & satisfy their unique needs.

Other Market Surveys:

Market Description
Consumer Tracking

The Customer experience survey allows researchers and marketers to step outside their usual schema and view their activities from a new perspective. These methods often seek to gain information about customer satisfaction, consumer feedback & suggestions, and customer loyalty questionnaires all fall under this broad category.

A customer expectations market research survey is a common way to improve the conversion of potential customers into paying ones; this is done by asking customers intimate questions about their experiences and expectations of a product. If the product is not meeting or exceeding the customer’s expectations, then the underlying causes of this disconnect can be routed out and addressed.

In this example, we took on the role of an all-natural body wash manufacturer looking to produce a commercial. For the purposes of this commercial, we’re looking to create a visual environment that resonates with consumer’s existing notions of cleanliness and freshness. In order to more effectively advertise our soap, we want to pull away from focusing directly on the product itself and move instead into establishing strong, subliminal connections with the consumer. We asked consumer panelists to answer the question, “Aside from the shower or bath, where do you feel the most ‘clean’?”

Surveys feedback on various Customer Experience on tools

Using these insights from our panelists, you can see how we might be able to translate their ideas of “clean” and “fresh” into a visual atmosphere that is far more enticing and stimulating than simply showing an actor in the shower. Fresh fields of flowers, a clean-pressed bed, a bubbling stream - these are all concepts we can use to strengthen the associations our customers will make between our product and traits like cleanliness and freshness.

Other Customer Experience Surveys

Purchase Analysis
Customer Retention
Sales Force Effectiveness
Customer Service Representative (CSR)
Sales Lead Generation

One final consideration you must make before conducting any research - identify your target audience.

Identifying who does not make up your target market is far easier than identifying the unique individuals that make up your consumer base. If you’re a marketer working for a premium alcohol retailer, you’re not going to be seeking feedback on the effectiveness of your sales force from teenagers; just like manufacturers in the US are not going to be testing their newest product line with people in countries they aren’t licensed to operate in. Be sure to avoid wasting valuable time and money on surveying demographics outside of your target market.

Demographic data is hugely important for marketers. Targeting your research towards the consumer groups that most closely match your customers will not only save you money by limiting the number of extraneous responses you’ll need to pay for - the overall quality of your responses will improve. Feedback from those who are current/potential customers is far more useful than feedback from those who would never consider purchasing your product.

The Costs Associated With Market Research Surveys

Traditionally, the costs associated with conducting quality market research would be enough to dissuade it from being a tenable option for small-time owners with limited resources. Now services that used to begin at four-digit cost projections can now be completed for tens of dollars - or even free, if you know where to look.

Where To Find The Best Marketing Survey Tools?

There are a variety of tools that any marketer is going to want to have available in their digital toolkit. While many of the best services are going to require a subscription fee, there are many free websites that offer tools and resources for the thrifty do-it-yourself marketer.

Here are just a few of the best free tools available right now:

Google Trends & Google Analytics

The existence of these products hopefully won’t surprise you. Google’s own analytic services are extremely useful for identifying market trends as they happen, and for data analysis pertaining to performance on Google.

Salience is a website that offers free and detailed reports on a variety of global industries - everything from retail, fashion, to finance and automobiles. These reports are chock-full of useful data pertaining to research study, industry growth, and market niche opportunities.

Statista is an online portal that hosts a wide range of insights and statistics for nearly every global industry. Statista has become the go-to for many of us who are looking for generalized insight into the ever-evolving world of global commerce - and while the free version may lack some of the features that make the premium version superior, the free program is still very accessible for the average user.

Think With Google

Formerly known as Consumer Barometer, this Google-funded application is designed to promote data related to online purchasing habits & internet engagement. The data provided gives unique insight into how we interact with search engines and ad campaigns on the web.

Pew Research Center

The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan organization that specializes in conducting opinion polling on a wide variety of issues and current events. This website is a fantastic resource to use when looking to obtain existing data, and to note what other topics professional market research surveys are exploring at any given time.

Atom Finance

This investment research software is going to provide all of the most important information you need to know about what’s going on in the stock market. SEC filings, daily news updates, financial expert analysis, and real-time access to quotes are just a few of the features included in the free version of this amazing piece of software.

All The Best Tools for Market Surveys (And What They’ll Cost)

Google forms.

Google Forms, also known as Google Surveys, is often one of the first tools new surveyors looking to conduct consumer research will come across. Google Forms features a familiar and easy-to-navigate dashboard, along with free basic survey templates for those looking to dip their toes into the water of digital marketing.

Completely free to use
Ubiquitous design should be familiar to users of other Google products
Variety of document types to incorporate into market research surveys
Lacks style and customization options
Some features are buried inside the layout - new users can sometimes have trouble accessing important design elements
Pricing Options
Free access to basic surveying functions
$.10 per response for a one (1) question test
$1 per response for 2-10 questions
Pricing increases per response if the surveyor is looking to survey a targeted audience

SurveyLegend

SurveyLegend is a powerful digital research tool with many intuitive features that make it an appealing product for those looking to improve the quality of the data they receive. Utilizing drag-and-drop elements, surveyors can quickly build sets of surveys that work well across every digital device - tablets and mobile devices included. The biggest drawback of this website stems from the fact that many of the best features are locked behind paywalls, and the free options can only be utilized for the first three surveys you create.

User-friendly design interface
Plenty of customization options for changing design elements in the survey
Built-in feature prevents users operating from the same IP from voting multiple times and cheating a survey
The features inside the free version are limited in comparison to the full paid application
Users can only run three (3) free surveys before being asked to pay for the platform
Users cannot export data from free surveys
First three (3) surveys are free
Pro Plan - $15/month
Business Plan - $25/month
Legendary Plan - $65/month

SurveyMonkey

SurveyMonkey stands out among its competitors by being one of the largest and most frequently used surveying platforms on the market. Over the years, the proprietors of SurveyMonkey have continued to purchase other smaller competing firms and supplementary applications in order to build out a more complete platform. While this site lacks some of the analytic tools that it’s competition boast, this service ultimately offers one of the most affordable paid plans ($384/year for the Advantage plan) for those looking to get the most bang for their surveying buck.

Accessible user interface
Results are displayed simply and clearly
Users can easily incorporate visual elements into their designs
Free version is limited in comparison to paid versions
Website limits the types of file formats that can be uploaded into surveys
Analytics lack depth & form
$.15 per response over the limit caps, even for Premier version
Personal Plans
Limited Free Surveying Capabilities
Standard - $99/month
Advantage - $384/year
Premier - $99/month
Business Plans
Team Advantage - $25/month/per user
Team Premier - $75/month/per user
Enterprise - Contact sales for pricing

Typeform offers some of the most unique and aesthetically pleasing survey designs currently on the market. Surveys are conducted one question at a time, with the next question beautifully flowing onto the page after each pollster response. For those who prefer form over function and are looking to create gorgeous, professional-looking surveys - look no further; if you’re looking for more substantial analytical tools, or are looking to run lengthy surveys with multiple question-sets, then you may want to consider some of the other alternatives on this list.

Intuitive integration with other platforms like Zapier
Drag-and-drop elements makes reordering and organizing surveys easy
Aesthetically pleasing design & UI
Wide array of surveying options may be daunting for new users looking to learn the program
Surveys only present one question at a time - making it harder for pollsters to gauge the length of surveys
Typeform branding on all surveys & analytics (this is removed by paying for premium access to the program)
Free option is limited and temporary
Limited Free Plan
Essentials - $35/month
Professional - $35/month, billed annually
Premium - $70/month

Survicate is a great surveying tool for those looking for a balanced, middle-of-the-road alternative for their solutions. With plenty of design options and existing template to choose from, coupled with user-friendly analytical tools and export features, Survicate stands on solid footing in the digital surveying landscape. The biggest drawbacks of this software stem from the large leap in cost from the free plan to even the most basic essentials plan - making this a turn-off for new users or those who are skeptical about switching to a new platform.

Preview what your questions will look like to users before sending them out
Comes with a variety of pre-existing survey templates for different needs
Lack of integration with other apps
Free plan only allows for 100 responses a month
No intermediate pricing options for casual surveyors
Essential - $49/month
Professional - $99/month
Ultimate - $249/month

SurveyPlanet

For those who feel limited by free surveying plans and want an app that will allow them to use the full breadth of surveying features for a low price, SurveyPlanet is a great paid alternative to things like Google Forms and SurveyMonkey. Not only does SurveyPlanet offer the cheapest paid pro plan of the surveying websites listed (only $180 a year), it’s well-spaced design layout makes it aesthetically pleasing and easy to use. The survey templates offered by SurveyPlanet are rather limited compared to some of its competitors; SurveyPlanet users will also find that the analytic tools offered by the website are rather lacking compared to other products.

90+ pre-written survey templates to choose from
Easy to duplicate market survey template
Questions can be shared through social media networks or through email
Scope of question types for free version is very limited
Users are unable to export results from the free plan
Limited Free Plan (no cap on responses)
Pro Plan - $180/year, billed annually

Alchemer (Formerly SurveyGizmo)

Alchemer is a heavy-duty surveying tool that offers a wide range of analytic tools and logic features that come standard with their surveying. Secure digital security infrastructure, combined with a very intuitive application design that allows users to integrate the tool seamlessly with other applications like Salesfore, makes Alchemer a highly sought-after product service for research firms and large enterprises. The improved functionality Alchemer offers over other competitors comes with an increase in asking price, with the cheapest paid options starting at a hefty $49/month.

Integrates well with tools like Salesforce & Google Sheets
Software is regularly updated with bug-fixes and new features
Built in logic and analytic tools allows users to easily export data into a variety of formats
Harder to develop tests for mobile devices than on other platforms
Pricing for full product service is especially high
Collaborator - $49/month
Professional - $149/month
Full Access - $249/month
Enterprise & Business Plans
Contact sales for pricing

Qualaroo is a unique surveying tool that utilises “nudges” to survey recipients while they’re actively browsing your website. The ability to ask people pertinent questions right as they are in the middle of a relevant activity (browsing sales, researching products) can greatly improve the quality of responses one receives in their market research surveys. Qualaroo also gathers and tracks a variety of important information for each of your website visitors, giving you the customer feedback you need to create a clear and actionable consumer profile. While offering some of the most intuitive and detailed consumer analytic software out there, Qualaroo’s high-end pricing plans are going to dissuade any casual market researchers from seeking out their product service.

Captures additional info about recipients like UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator) data
Easy to read and highly informative dashboards
Feedback taken through conversion funnel allows for better intent visualization and consumer satisfaction metrics
Pricing options are very high - not for the casual surveyor
Lacks customizability for design and layout
Unable to receive responses in real time; users can only view responses once the test is completed
Essentials - $960/year for 100,000 tracked pageviews/month
Premium - $1,920/year for 100,000 tracked pageviews/month

What Helpfull Does Best

Helpfull is the premiere surveying software for anyone looking to get the most out of their efforts. With a vast variety of different question types to choose from, Helpfull market surveys can be generated and delivered to a sample size of upwards of thousands!

Here are some of the features that make Helpfull the premiere tool for owners, creatives, and people like you:

No Locked-In Price Plan
Affordable Surveying Options
Create with Pre-Designed Market Survey Template, or Create Your Own
No Extra Cost For Multiple Questions in a Single Survey
Wide Variety of Polling Demographics to Choose From
Get Responses & Feedback in Real Time
Save Your Favorite Answers for Easy Reference
Aesthetically Pleasing UI and Easy-To-Use Interface
Accessing Prior Tests Is Easy

A simple research survey could be all that stands between your company and the renewed success of it’s online data collection efforts.

An intuitive user-interface, coupled with the ability to gather hundreds of consumer responses in just minutes, are just a few of the features that make Helpfull the ultimate tool for any artist, designer, inquisitive spirit, or organization.

Achieve your goals - sign up with Helpfull today, and get surveying within minutes!

Types of Feedback

Choosing our target audience demographics is an integral component of the surveying process. Learn how to calculate perfect size for your survey audience.

A poll consists of only one question; surveys are made up of multiple questions. Learn the differences and how each tool is used for information gathering.

Whenever you’re looking to send out a survey email, it’s important to get it right. Here are the 10 best tips for creating effective survey emails.

Likert scale surveys are a reliable way to collect valuable customer data. Learn how we can use the scale to generate feedback for our business insights.

To get the most out of your marketing, target your efforts at defined market segments. Online surveys help to identify how to meet your consumer’s needs.

Quick or instant surveys are research tools used to gain immediate feedback on questions or designs. Learn what instant surveying can do for your business.

Helpfull is the easiest way to get feedback from thousands of people in minutes. Whether you're comparing images, text or surveys; our pool of qualified testers give you their real detailed opinion to help you make better decisions and be more informed.

Webinar ‘Praxis-Check Qualitätssicherung bei Online-Umfragen’

22.04.2024 11:00 - 11:45 UHR

Survey Panel Guide with Examples

Survey Panels are valuable tools in market research, enabling businesses to gather insights directly from selected survey participants . This guide provides a comprehensive understanding of their definition, benefits, and examples.

Table of contents

Definition of a Survey Panel

Importance of survey panels, types of survey panels with examples, advantages of using survey panels, tips for using survey panels.

In a rapidly evolving business environment, data has become a vital element for decision-making, product development, market research, and policy making. The ability to collect reliable and actionable data is crucial, and one method that has proven exceptionally effective is the use of survey panels. This article delves into the world of survey panels, discussing their definition, benefits, and providing real-world examples. Whether you’re a business owner, a market researcher, or simply an individual curious about the dynamics of data collection, this article is designed to provide you with a comprehensive understanding of survey panels.

A survey panel is a group of individuals selected to participate in market research studies. These individuals, also known as panelists, agree to provide information or answer questions about a wide range of topics. The panelists might be chosen based on specific demographic characteristics, behaviors, or other factors, depending on the needs of the researcher. Survey panels can be conducted via different mediums including online, through the phone, or in person.

Panelists usually participate voluntarily, sometimes incentivized with rewards, monetary compensation, or simply the opportunity to express their views. The size of survey panels can vary dramatically, from a few dozen participants to several thousand, or even more.

Choose your audience at resonio and create your survey panel!

Discover more than just a survey tool – at resonio, we provide direct access to a vast global community ready to engage in your surveys. Ready to explore our vibrant survey participant community and build your panel?

Survey panels hold immense importance in today’s data-driven world. They provide businesses, researchers, and policy makers with valuable insights about consumer behavior, public opinions, market trends, and societal issues. With the data obtained from survey panels, organizations can make informed decisions and craft strategies that align with their objectives and market realities.

For example, a business might use a survey panel to understand the market acceptance of a new product or to identify areas for improvement in its services. Governments, on the other hand, might use survey panels to understand public sentiment on key policies or societal issues. The diverse use of survey panels makes them a cornerstone of effective data collection in modern society.

Survey panels come in a variety of forms, each suited to specific research needs. Below are some common different types of survey panels.

Demographic Panels: These panels consist of participants who possess specific demographic characteristics such as age, gender, income, or education level. Demographic panels are valuable for gathering targeted information about specific target audiences, which assists companies in the development of tailored marketing campaigns and products.

Product Test Panels: These panels allow participants to test new products before their launch and provide feedback. They enable companies to assess the performance and acceptance of their products in the real world and make necessary adjustments. For example, Influenster sends its members free products to test and review, providing companies with essential information about product usability, design, and consumer satisfaction.

Brand Evaluation Panels: These panels focus on evaluating brands and their perception by consumers. Participants are asked to share their opinions and impressions of specific brands and their products. This information helps companies refine their brand strategies.

Customer Review Panels: Companies use customer review panels to gather feedback from their existing customers. This can help measure customer satisfaction, identify issues, and make improvements in products or services.

Political Survey Panels: These panels are designed to collect information about political views and public opinions. Political parties, research institutes, and media organizations use these panels to track political discourse and gain a better understanding of voting behavior.

Social and Societal Survey Panels: These panels address social and societal topics such as environmental awareness, health behavior, or social trends. They provide insights into people’s behavior and attitudes toward significant societal issues.

Online Community Panels: These panels consist of members of an online community who regularly engage in discussions on specific topics. Companies can utilize these communities to gather feedback and build closer relationships with their customers.

Industry-Specific Panels: Industry-specific panels involve participants working in particular professions or industries. Companies can use these panels to gain insights into the needs and challenges within specialized sectors.

Longitudinal Panels: These panels involve repeated surveys of the same group of participants over an extended period. This allows tracking changes in participants’ behavior and attitudes over time.

Consumer Panels: Consumer panels, also known as consumer panels, consist of participants who represent the general population or specific consumer groups. These panels are frequently used by companies to gain insights into consumer purchasing behavior, preferences, and opinions. They are particularly helpful in the development of marketing strategies, market research, and product development for products and services targeting end consumers.

B2B Panels: B2B panels, also referred to as business or corporate panels, consist of professionals, entrepreneurs, and decision-makers in businesses. These panels are tailored to the needs of business customers and are often used by companies to gain insights into industry trends, business purchasing habits, and the requirements of B2B clients. B2B panels are particularly crucial for companies selling products or services to other businesses. A perfect example of a B2B panel is LinkedIn Surveys. The LinkedIn platform leverages its extensive network of professionals to provide companies with detailed insights into industry trends, behaviors, and preferences in the B2B market.

Online Panels: Online panels are groups of individuals recruited via the internet for surveys and research purposes. These panels offer an efficient way to collect a wide range of information from participants around the world. They are available in various categories, including consumer and B2B online panels, depending on whether the target audience is end consumers or business customers.

Product Test Panels: Product test panels, as mentioned earlier, offer participants the opportunity to test new products and provide feedback. This is particularly useful for companies to assess the quality and acceptance of their products before they hit the market. These panels can be used for both consumer and B2B products.

Specialized and Niche Panels: Specialized and niche panels consist of individuals with specific expertise or interests. These panels focus on particular industries, topics, or hobbies. They are especially valuable for companies operating in specialized markets and requiring specific insights or expert opinions. For instance, panels of doctors for the healthcare industry or panels of technology experts for the IT industry could be relevant.

Survey panels offer numerous advantages to businesses, regardless of their size or industry. Some of the key benefits include:

Access to Targeted Information – Survey panels allow businesses to gather data from specific demographic groups, leading to more relevant and targeted insights.
Quick and Timely Feedback – With a ready pool of panelists, businesses can quickly deploy different types of online surveys and receive feedback in a timely manner. This is especially useful for evaluating short-term marketing campaigns or immediate customer responses to a new product launch.
Cost-effective – Compared to other forms of primary data collection, survey panels can be more cost-effective. Digital platforms have further reduced costs by eliminating the need for physical materials and logistics.
Longitudinal Data Collection – Since panelists usually participate in surveys over an extended period, businesses can collect longitudinal data to identify trends, changes in behaviors, and measure the impact of interventions over time.

Benefits to Panelists

Panelists also stand to gain from their participation in survey panels. Some of the main benefits include:

Compensation and Rewards – Panelists often receive rewards or incentives for their participation, such as cash, gift cards, or discounts.
Opportunity to Influence – Participation in survey panels allows individuals to voice their opinions, potentially influencing the products, services, or policies that companies or organizations implement.
Flexibility – Particularly with mobile and online surveys, panelists can respond to surveys at their convenience, making the process less time-consuming and more flexible.

Benefits to Research and Society

Beyond businesses and panelists, survey panels also offer benefits to researchers and society at large:

Facilitates Academic and Scientific Research – Many academic researchers rely on survey panels to gather data for their studies, contributing to advancements in fields like psychology, sociology, economics, and public health.
Promotes Evidence-Based Policy Making – Governments and NGOs can use survey panel data to inform and shape policies, ensuring they are based on actual public opinions and needs.
Enhances Market Efficiency – By providing insights into consumer preferences and behaviors, survey panels can help make markets more efficient, as businesses can better align their offerings with consumer needs.

Survey panels play a crucial role in market research, helping businesses understand their target audiences better. However, getting the most out of survey panels requires a thoughtful approach and careful planning. Here are some practical tips on how to effectively use survey panels in market research.

Define Your Research Objectives – Before you begin using a survey panel, you should clearly define your research objectives. What questions are you trying to answer? What data do you need to make informed decisions? Having clear objectives will help you choose the right type of survey panel and design an effective questionnaire.
Choose the Right Panel – As we’ve seen, there are numerous types of survey panels available, each suited to different research needs. A consumer panel would be suitable for general market research, while a B2B panel might be necessary for industry-specific insights. Furthermore, specialist panels are available if you need insights from specific demographics. Consider your research objectives and target audience carefully before selecting a panel.
Design an Effective Survey – Your survey should be concise, easy to understand, and engaging. Long or confusing surveys may lead to participant fatigue, resulting in unreliable responses. Be clear and precise with your questions and ensure the survey is not overly time-consuming. Also, remember to begin with less sensitive survey questions to build rapport and trust.
Provide Incentives – Panelists are more likely to participate and provide thoughtful responses when they’re compensated for their time. Incentives can be monetary, such as cash rewards or gift cards, or non-monetary, such as loyalty points or discounts. The key is to ensure the incentive is appealing enough to encourage participation without biasing the responses.
Ensure Data Quality – Regularly monitor the quality of data you are getting. Look out for inconsistent responses or indicators of rushed answers, such as straight-lining (selecting the same response for all questions). You may need to revise your survey design or re-engage panelists if data quality is an issue.
Establish a Good Relationship with Panelists – Panelists are more likely to provide honest and thoughtful responses when they feel valued. Communicate regularly with your panelists, provide feedback on how their participation has contributed to your research, and respect their privacy.
Leverage Technology – Technology can make it easier to manage survey panels and collect data. Use online survey platforms for easy distribution and real-time data collection. Mobile panels can provide even more convenience for panelists, which can increase participation rates.
Analyze and Interpret the Data Effectively – Collecting the data is just the first step. You also need to analyze the data carefully to draw meaningful insights. This may involve descriptive statistics, inferential statistics, or advanced techniques such as cluster analysis or conjoint analysis, depending on your research objectives.

Survey panels are integral to the market research landscape, providing a robust and reliable means of understanding consumer behaviors, preferences, and trends. Their diversity, from general consumer and B2B panels to specialist and product testing panels, gives businesses the flexibility to delve into different demographic groups and industry sectors. Furthermore, with the rise of digital technologies, online and mobile panels have enabled instantaneous, real-time data collection, bolstering the speed and scope of market research.

However, their effectiveness is contingent upon strategic utilization. Clearly defined research objectives, coupled with the right choice of panel, can set the foundation for successful data collection. The survey design itself is crucial, requiring clarity and conciseness to elicit reliable responses. Incentives, when used correctly, can enhance participation rates and engagement, while an ongoing commitment to data quality is indispensable for valid and actionable insights.

The relationship with panelists is not a one-off interaction but a sustained engagement. Their contributions must be acknowledged, and feedback must be provided to establish a mutually beneficial relationship. The dynamic nature of markets also means that panels need to be regularly refreshed to ensure they remain representative of the target population. The use of technology and sophisticated sampling and analysis techniques further elevates the potential of survey panels, enabling businesses to dig deeper into the data and extract nuanced insights. In essence, when leveraged efficiently and effectively, survey panels become a cornerstone of market intelligence, guiding businesses towards informed decision-making and strategic growth.

FAQs on Survey Panels

What is a survey panel in market research.

A survey panel is a group of selected research participants who have agreed to provide information for studies. They represent a certain demographic, profession, or consumer segment, and businesses use these panels to gather insights on various topics like consumer behavior, product preferences, or industry trends.

How are participants selected for a survey panel?

Participants are selected based on the specific requirements of the research. This could include factors such as age, gender, location, occupation, or any other relevant demographic or psychographic details. Selection is usually done through an initial screening process to ensure that panel members fit the necessary profile.

Why are incentives often used in survey panels?

Incentives are used as a way to thank panelists for their time and to encourage participation. They can take many forms, such as cash, gift cards, discounts, or points that can be redeemed for various rewards. Providing incentives can increase response rates and can help to maintain engagement over time.

HHow do businesses ensure the data collected from survey panels is reliable?

There are several ways businesses ensure data reliability. These include clear and concise survey design, regular monitoring of data for consistency, use of stratified sampling to ensure representativeness, and maintaining a good relationship with panelists to encourage honest responses. Companies may also use technology to spot patterns that may suggest unreliable responses, such as straight-lining.

What types of businesses can benefit from using survey panels?

Any business that needs insights into customer behaviors, attitudes, or preferences can benefit from using survey panels. This includes businesses in consumer goods, technology, healthcare, finance, and many other sectors. Even non-profit organizations and government entities can use survey panels to understand the needs and preferences of the people they serve.

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Top 9 Global Market Research Awards You Should Know in 2024

Market research awards in 2024 are prestigious awards that acknowledge professionals and organizations for their dedication, creativity, and impact. Over the years, market research awards have sufficed as recognition of researchers’ contributions and excellence. The award includes not only organizational contributions but also individuals.

Thus, recognition from esteemed awards not only honours the winners but also fosters a spirit of healthy competition and continuous improvement among researchers. The research industry is now littered with professionals of varying talents striving to innovate, refine methodologies, and contribute to the growth and development of the market research field.

The drive to be exceptional may not be solely for the recognition, but that cannot be outruled. In this article, we will explore the top 9 global market research awards you should be aware of in 2024.

ESOMAR Excellence Awards

The ESOMAR Excellence Awards is an initiative that recognizes outstanding achievement and excellence in contributing to the insights and analytics community internationally. The awards are presented every other year to deserving individuals who have made significant contributions to insights and analytics. The awards are a great way to celebrate the achievements of individuals who have gone above and beyond to help the community make leaps forward in the field of insights and analytics.

Notable Previous Winners and Their Impact

Many individuals have been recognized by the ESOMAR Excellence Awards for their significant contributions to the field of insights and analytics. Here are some notable previous winners and their impact:

Kristin Luck : Kristin is a serial entrepreneur and a pioneer in the field of digital marketing research. She has been recognized for her work in developing innovative research methodologies and for her contributions to the industry as a whole.
Niels Schillewaert : He is a co-founder and managing partner of InSites Consulting and has been recognized for his contributions to market research. Neils has been reported to be a driving force of innovation and change in the industry.
Ray Poynter : Another notable name is Ray Poynter. Ray is the founder of The Future Place and has been recognized for his contributions to the field of market research.

Fishbein Model in Market Research

Criteria for Nomination and Selection Process

The ESOMAR Excellence Awards are presented every other year to deserving individuals who have made significant contributions to insights and analytics. It might interest you to know that the nomination process is by invitation only, and the criteria for nomination vary depending on the award category.

Furthermore, the selection process involves a committee chaired by the ESOMAR President and the Vice President and Director General. The submissions are evaluated based on a variety of criteria, including their innovation, impact, and effectiveness. The winner of the award receives a cash prize of €10,000 and exposure during the event to celebrate their lifetime achievements in service to the community.

The MRS Awards (Market Research Society Awards)

The Market Research Society (MRS) is the world’s leading authority on research and insight. This award stands out for its support and promotion of evidence-based decision-making in business and society. The MRS Awards celebrate excellence across a wide range of categories such as best research projects, teams, agencies, clients, and individuals in the UK and internationally.

The MRS Awards are open to anyone involved in market research, insight, analytics, or data science. The categories cover various sectors, disciplines, and methodologies, as well as special awards for outstanding contributions to the profession. The criteria for submission vary depending on the category but generally include evidence of clear objectives, robust methodology, insightful analysis, impactful results, and ethical standards.

The MRS Awards are a great opportunity to showcase your work, gain recognition from your peers and clients, and celebrate your achievements with the research community.

Quirk’s Marketing Research and Insight Excellence Awards

If you are a marketing researcher or an insight professional, you might be interested in Quirk’s Marketing Research and Insight Excellence Awards. These awards are designed to celebrate the best practices and achievements in the field of marketing research and insights. The Quirk’s Awards are not just another trophy to collect, but a valuable opportunity to showcase your work, gain recognition, and learn from your peers.

The Quirk’s Awards have some unique features and categories that make them different from other awards in the industry. For example, the awards are judged by a panel of experts from both the client and supplier sides, ensuring a balanced and fair evaluation of the entries. The awards also have a variety of categories that cover different aspects of marketing research and insights, such as innovation, impact, storytelling, collaboration, and more. The awards are open to entries from any country, any industry, and any size of organization.

Top Survey & Market Research Certifications

Some of the unique features and categories of the Quirk’s Awards are:

The awards are judged by an independent panel of experts from academia, industry, and media.
The awards are open to entries from any organization or individual involved in marketing research and insights, regardless of size, sector, or location.
It covers a wide range of topics and disciplines, such as customer experience, data science, social media, behavioural economics, and more.
It has a global scope, with separate competitions for North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America.

Case Studies of Memorable Winning Campaigns

Some of the memorable winning campaigns from the past years are:

Qualitative Research Impact 2022 : Opinium conducted a qualitative research project that had a significant impact on public awareness and understanding of endometriosis, a chronic condition that affects one in 10 women worldwide. The project was commissioned by Standard Life Foundation, a charitable organization that aims to improve financial well-being for people on low-to-middle incomes. The project aimed to explore the financial impact of endometriosis on women’s lives, as well as their experiences of accessing health care, employment, and social support. The project involved a multi-method approach that combined online communities, in-depth interviews, video diaries, and creative tasks with 40 women living with endometriosis in the U.K. The project used a participatory design and storytelling that empowered the participants to co-create the research agenda and outputs, ensuring that their voices were heard and represented throughout the process. The project delivered powerful insights that revealed the hidden costs and challenges of living with endometriosis, such as reduced income, increased expenses, limited career opportunities, delayed diagnosis, inadequate treatment, stigma, and isolation. Based on these insights, recommendations for improving the financial well-being and quality of life of women with endometriosis were made. The project received widespread media coverage and recognition from various stakeholders, such as endometriosis charities, healthcare organizations, government agencies, and celebrities.

In 2022, the awards celebrated more outstanding achievements in marketing research and insights. Some of the winners were:

Outstanding Young Researcher: Maia Chang, Ferrara
Fearless Leader, sponsored by Zappi: Timothy Cornelius, QuestionPro
Groundbreaking Research Project: Firefish, The Numbers Lab, and Pinterest
Health Care/Pharmaceutical Research Project: Research Partnership and Bristol Myers Squibb

The David Ogilvy Awards

The ARF David Ogilvy Awards is the premier awards program that honours research- and insights-driven advertising. The awards pay tribute to the late David Ogilvy, the ultimate “madman,” founder of the agency Ogilvy, and creator of some of the biggest fundamentals in advertising that are still being used today.

The awards celebrate his forward-thinking belief in the importance of research behind effective advertising. They recognize campaigns that highlight the power of research and insights to create impactful and innovative advertising across various categories, such as brand transformation, consumer experience, social responsibility, multicultural, innovation, and more.

Some of the winners of the 2023 ARF David Ogilvy Awards include:

UNFOLD YOUR WORLD by Samsung, which used ethnographic research to understand how consumers use their smartphones created a campaign that showcased the benefits of the foldable Galaxy Z Flip device.
LET’S HEAR IT FROM HANDS by Dove Hand Wash, which used a combination of qualitative and quantitative research to uncover the emotional and functional needs of hand washers during the pandemic created a campaign that celebrated the role of hands in everyday life.
THE LIVING PORTRAIT OF NYC by Citizens, which used data visualization and storytelling to capture the pulse of New York City during the pandemic created a campaign that demonstrated how Citizens supports small businesses in the city.
HERE FOR HER by CVS Health, which used social listening and sentiment analysis to identify the gaps and opportunities in women’s health care and created a campaign that positioned CVS as a trusted partner for women’s health needs.

Criteria for Evaluating Campaign Effectiveness

The ARF David Ogilvy Awards are judged by a panel of experts from various disciplines, such as research, analytics, strategy, creative, media, and academia. The judges evaluate the entries based on four criteria:

Research: How well did the research address the business challenge and inform the creative strategy?
Strategy: How well did the strategy align with the research insights and the brand objectives?
Creative: How well did the creative execution deliver on the strategy and engage the target audience?
Results: How well did the campaign achieve the desired outcomes and demonstrate a clear link between research, strategy, creativity, and results?

The ARF David Ogilvy Awards are open to submissions from all types of organizations, such as agencies, advertisers, media companies, research firms, non-profits, and academic institutions. The deadline for submissions for the 2024 awards is January 31, 2024.

Ginny Valentine Badge of Courage Awards

The Ginny Valentine Badge of Courage Awards are named after Virginia “Ginny” Valentine, a pioneer of semiotics and cultural research who died in 2010. The awards recognize researchers who have shown exceptional courage and determination to produce great market research, often in challenging or controversial situations. The awards are organized by the Research Liberation Front, a group of research revolutionaries dedicated to setting research free and pushing boundaries.

Some of the notable winners of the Ginny Valentine Badge of Courage Awards are:

Lena Chinou, Heineken: for challenging the purpose of a 150-year-old organization and leading a global cultural transformation project.
Kalinda Fisher, The Great Reset: for selflessly bringing together opinions that are poles apart and creating a platform for dialogue and action on social issues.
Dr. Polibio Cordova, Cedatos: for publishing unpopular polls and facing threats and lawsuits during the Ecuadorian presidential election.

The awards are presented annually at various market research events around the world, such as TMRE, IIeX, and MRMW. The winners are selected by a panel of judges from different sectors and regions of the market research industry.

What sets the Ginny Valentine Awards apart from other market research awards is that they celebrate not just marketing success or methodological rigour, but bravery, innovation, and impact. The awards aim to preserve the legacy of Ginny Valentine and inspire others to follow her example of challenging traditional market research and advocating for new thinking.

EXPLOR Award

The EXPLOR Award is an annual case study competition that honours innovation in marketing research. The award is sponsored by the Austrian Society for Consumer Studies (ÖGVS), a non-profit organization that conducts independent consumer research and testing.

The EXPLOR Award recognizes breakthrough innovation in areas such as:

New methods or techniques for data collection, analysis, or visualization.
New applications or integrations of existing methods or technologies.
Latest insights or solutions for business or social problems

The award is open to researchers from any sector, industry, or country, as long as the project has been conducted or completed within the last two years. The award is presented at the Insights Association Corporate Researchers Conference (CRC), an annual symposium for market researchers and data analysts in North America.

Some of the recent winners of the EXPLOR Award are:

Reach3 Insights: for using messenger-based shopper research and predictive analytics to optimize e-commerce conversion for a global CPG brand.
Gongos: for developing a gamified mobile app that leverages behavioural science to measure consumer emotions and motivations.
ZappiStore: for creating an automated platform that enables fast and cost-effective testing of creative concepts.

The evaluation process for the EXPLOR Award consists of three stages:

Submission: Researchers submit an abstract of their project online, describing the objectives, methods, results, and implications of their innovation.
Selection: A global team of judges reviews the submissions and selects three finalists based on originality, relevance, validity, and impact.
Presentation: The finalists present their case studies at CRC, where the attendees vote for the winner.

The winner receives a trophy, a certificate, and recognition in various media outlets. The winner also gets the opportunity to share their innovation with a wider audience through webinars, podcasts, or articles.

ASC/MRS Award for Research Effectiveness

The ASC/MRS Award for Research Effectiveness is an annual award that celebrates the successful collaboration between the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and the Market Research Society (MRS) in promoting and maintaining high standards of research in advertising. The award recognizes cases that demonstrate the effective use of research in informing, developing, evaluating, or regulating advertising campaigns or practices. The award is open to any organization or individual involved in conducting or commissioning research for advertising purposes.

The criteria for measuring research effectiveness are:

Relevance: The research should address an important advertising objective or challenge.
Rigor: The research should follow appropriate and robust methods, ethics, and quality standards.
Impact: The research should have a significant and demonstrable influence on advertising decisions, outcomes, or regulations.

American Marketing Association (AMA) – Paragon Awards

The AMA Paragon Awards are the premier awards program that recognizes excellence in marketing research and strategy across various industries and sectors. The awards showcase the best practices, innovative solutions, and impactful work of marketing researchers and strategists who have made a difference in their organizations and society.

The key categories for the 2023 awards were:

Best Comprehensive Research/Strategy
Best Innovation in Research/Strategy
Best Impactful Research/Strategy
Best Emerging Researcher/Strategist
Best Research/Strategy Agency

The submission guidelines for the 2023 entry were:

Entries must be based on research or strategy projects completed or implemented between January 2022 and December 2022.
Entries must include a summary of the project objectives, methods, results, and implications, as well as supporting materials such as charts, graphs, videos, or testimonials.
Entries must be submitted online through the AMA website by 28th February 2023.

The winners were announced at the AMA Marketing Week Live event in September 2023.

Insights Association – Insight Impact Awards

The Insights Association Insight Impact Awards honour the impact of insights and research on decision-making in business, government, and society. The awards celebrate the role of insights professionals in driving positive change and delivering value to their clients and stakeholders.

The awards examine noteworthy Insight Impact Award-winning projects from previous years, such as:

How insights helped a global retailer optimize its store layout and assortment to increase sales and customer satisfaction.
The ways insights helped a national nonprofit organization improve its fundraising strategy and donor retention rate.
How insights helped a state government agency design and implement a successful public health campaign to reduce opioid abuse.

The judging criteria and evaluation process are:

Relevance: The project should address a significant business, social, or policy issue or opportunity.
Innovation: The project should demonstrate creativity, originality, and novelty in the use of insights methods, tools, or techniques.
Value: The project should provide clear and measurable benefits to the client or stakeholder, such as increased revenue, reduced costs, enhanced reputation, or improved outcomes.

In this blog post, we have highlighted the importance and benefits of market research awards for the industry and its professionals. By participating in these awards, market researchers can gain recognition, feedback, exposure, and networking opportunities, as well as contribute to the advancement and innovation of the field. Market researchers should be encouraged to consider applying for or nominating their peers for these awards, as a way of celebrating and sharing their achievements and insights.

As the market research industry evolves and adapts to the changing needs and expectations of clients and consumers, so do the criteria and standards for market research awards in the future. As a market researcher, keep an eye out to see the newest trends in the market research awards.

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Market Survey: Definition, Types and Examples
Market Survey Definition. Market survey is the survey research and unit of analysis of the market for a particular product/service which includes the investigation into customer inclinations. A study of various customer capabilities such as investment attributes and buying potential. Market surveys are tools to directly collect feedback from the target audience to understand their ...
What is Market Survey Research?
Market survey research involves analyzing a given market in order to gain insight into the buying potential and attributes of the target audience for a product or service. The main goal and objective of a market survey are to collect data surrounding a target market such as competitor analysis, pricing trends, and customer expectations.
Market Research Survey: The Complete Guide
A market research survey is a survey used for conducting primary market research and is the most commonly used market research method. Market research surveys help you understand your target market, gathering data necessary to make informed decisions on content creation, product development, and more.
What is Market Research? Definition, Types, Process ...
Market research is defined as the systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of data about a specific market, industry, or consumer segment. It involves studying customers, competitors, and market dynamics to identify opportunities, mitigate risks, and make informed business decisions. Market research provides valuable insights into ...
Survey Research
Survey research means collecting information about a group of people by asking them questions and analyzing the results. Learn how to conduct effective surveys for different types of research, such as social, market, health, and political. Follow six steps to design, distribute, analyze, and write up your survey results.
Types of market research surveys
What is a market research survey? A market research survey is a way of getting feedback directly from the people who have the ultimate say in your organization's success: your customers.. Unlike focus groups or interviews, market research surveys allow you to get detailed feedback at scale — from behaviors to overall experiences — and in a standardized format.
Market Research Surveys
Market research surveys can provide valuable insights for businesses and organizations looking to understand their target market and make data-driven decisions. However, it is important to know potential drawbacks such as sampling and respondent bias, cost, and limited scope and to carefully design surveys to minimize these issues. ...
How to conduct your own market research survey (with example)
Step 3: Run a test survey. Before you run your full survey, conduct a smaller test on 5%-10% of your target respondent pool size. This will allow you to work out any confusing wording or questions that result in unhelpful responses without spending the full cost of the survey. Look out for:
How to Do Market Research, Types, and Example
Market research is the process of assessing the viability of a new good or service through research conducted directly with the consumer which allows a company to ...
Survey Research: Definition, Examples & Methods
Survey research is the process of collecting data from a predefined group (e.g. customers or potential customers) with the ultimate goal of uncovering insights about your products, services, or brand overall.. As a quantitative data collection method, survey research can provide you with a goldmine of information that can inform crucial business and product decisions.
Market Survey: How To Conduct A Market Research Survey
Calculate averages from your quantitative answers. Compare your results against global and local secondary market research. There are plenty of ways to cross-examine and analyze your market research data based on the type of data you've collected and what you're looking for. 7. Uncover the bigger picture.
The Complete Guide to Market Research: What It Is, Why You ...
Market research is the organized process of gathering information about your target customers and market. Market research can help you better understand customer behavior and competitor strengths and weaknesses, as well as provide insight for the best strategies in launching new businesses and products. There are different ways to approach ...
Market Research Surveys: Sample Questions + Template
Market research surveys are a tool to collect information about a target market and its needs, preferences, and competitors. Learn how to create a great survey with sample questions, a template, and tips for different types of data. See how to use MaxDiff, Gabor Granger, and Net Promoter Score questions to get the most out of your data.
Market Survey: Definition, Objectives, Types, and Process
Market survey definition . Market survey means a collection of first-hand data from customers, vendors, stakeholders, or the general public. Market surveys are usually conducted to gather data so that better marketing, growth, and product decisions can be made. ... Preparing a market research questionnaire.
Market Research Survey
1. Gather Actionable Insights. Conducting market research surveys can help businesses make data-driven decisions, improve their products and services, and develop more effective marketing strategies. These surveys provide businesses with objective data that can be used to make informed decisions.
How To Do Market Research: Definition, Types, Methods
Step 4: Conduct the market research. With a system in place, you can start looking for candidates to contribute to your market research. This might include distributing surveys to current customers or recruiting participants who fit a specific profile, for example. Set a time frame for conducting your research.
Market Research Surveys: The Quick Start Guide
The quick start guide on how to conduct market research. It's easy to conduct market research online using market research surveys. They're an affordable and reliable way to gather information from your target markets. So whether you're a Fortune 500 company or a small startup, use market research surveys to better understand your target ...
Market Research Survey : Definition, Types & Best Tools
A market research survey is designed to capture valuable information from consumers that can then be turned into something actionable. Information like consumer preferences, sentiment, favored services, and purchasing habits can be used to create clearer consumer profiles for our target markets.
Market research
Market research is an organized effort to gather information about target markets and customers: know about them, starting with who they are. ... as well as quantitative techniques such as customer surveys, and analysis of secondary data. It includes social and opinion research, and is the systematic gathering and interpretation of information ...
Consumer Surveys: Definition, Process, and Sample Questions
A consumer research survey refers to a study that gathers feedback and information from the desired audience. An essential piece to consumer research surveys is defining the goals and objectives of the study. Before discussing the survey audience, price, or methodology, a research team needs to know the survey goals and how the results will be ...
Survey Panel: Definition, Benefits, and Examples
A survey panel is a group of individuals selected to participate in market research studies. These individuals, also known as panelists, agree to provide information or answer questions about a wide range of topics. The panelists might be chosen based on specific demographic characteristics, behaviors, or other factors, depending on the needs ...
Top 9 Global Market Research Awards You Should Know in 2024
In 2022, the awards celebrated more outstanding achievements in marketing research and insights. Some of the winners were: Outstanding Young Researcher: Maia Chang, Ferrara. Fearless Leader, sponsored by Zappi: Timothy Cornelius, QuestionPro. Groundbreaking Research Project: Firefish, The Numbers Lab, and Pinterest.

Market Survey: Definition, Types and Examples

Market Survey Definition

Purpose of Market Survey

Market Survey Templates

Importance of Market Survey

Types of Market Survey with Examples

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Market Research Survey: The Complete Guide

What Can you Achieve with Market Research?

Defining a Market Research Survey

The Components of a Market Research Survey

How to Create a Market Research Survey

Step 1: Find a topic your business needs to learn more about.

Step 2: Consider the topic in regards to your target market

Step 3: Find the larger application of the survey campaign

Step 4: Calculate your margin of error

Step 5: Create your survey(s)

Questions to Ask for Various Campaigns

Questions for Branding

Questions for Advertising

Questions for Comparing Yourself with Competitors

Questions for Market Segmentation

Securing the Most Benefits Out of Your Market Research Survey

Frequently asked questions

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

What is a market research survey?

How to write and conduct a market research survey

Use automation to put survey results into action

6 types of market research survey

1. Buyer persona research

2. Sales funnel research

3. Customer loyalty research

4. Branding and marketing research

5. New products or features research

6. Competitor research

Step 1: Write your survey questions

Step 2: Choose a survey platform

Step 3: Run a test survey

Step 4: Launch your survey

Step 5: Organize and interpret the data

Market research survey campaign example

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