Should you conduct Market research for a small or start-up business?

Market research for a small or start-up business

 

Simply put. Yes, absolutely! Market research will help you make the right decisions for your company and business.

It's exciting to start a business. It can be easy to get lost in the details of launching your service and marketing it.

You must do your homework before you can get into the fun. To be able to beat your competition, you must conduct market research.

Market research involves gathering feedback from customers about your product or service, and collecting relevant information on the market. This includes information about your competitors and their pricing. This information is essential when creating your business plan.

It is important to understand your customers, competitors, and the landscape. You may need to pivot if you don't have enough demand or too much space.

You need to do the work behind-the-scenes before you can move forward with your startup.

Why Market Research is Important

A business cannot be run on "gut feeling" or "passion", and expect the best. This is not a plan.

Market research can help you find out if is a good fit for your idea, and if people are willing to pay you for it. The following questions should be asked to help you get a feel for the terrain.

Who are your customers?

How do they spend their money?

What's the market like?

Which are your competitions?

Are there opportunities for you to grow, expand, or possibly even shift your business?

These are just a few of the many questions you need to ask. Which location should you open for brick-and-mortar? Do you need one? How about pricing? What is the future market for your product?

You will be better prepared and make better business decisions if you have more information.

How to do market research for a startup or small business

You can skip the questions from the previous section and focus on a few more things before you get started.

Set a budget. A budget doesn't have to be large, but it is important that you are aware of how and where your money is being spent.

Inform your staff. Make sure you inform your staff if they have one. You might consider appointing a leader or team to store and manage all data.

Be specific about the next steps. Market research should be completed quickly and not delayed for several months. Consumer insights can change so you need to take action immediately. You shouldn't, for example, use January survey results as a basis for making decisions about the winter holiday shopping season. This is because October in the UK starts earlier than October. Then, plan how and when you'll use the data. To help you get the details right, consider creating a SWOT analysis to assess your ideas.

Market research can be done in many ways. You don't need to spend a lot of money to conduct market research. You can use social networking to do cost-effective analyses such as getting feedback from customers via Twitter polls, testing ads through Facebook and finding ambassadors for brands on Instagram.

How about market research to help you develop your business idea?

Market research is crucial if you are just starting to plan an operation. You may find your idea not worth the effort or cost. You may find that your market research can help you transform one idea into another.

"Bottom line: Market research is essential for the execution of your business plan."

Collect data about your business and industry

Gather data about everything before you go to market. This includes your ideal customer and the competitive landscape. Startup Nation states that you should collect both primary and secondary data.

Primary data: This data is information that you collect from potential customers, the general population, or a combination of both. Focus groups or field trials are two examples of primary data. These include A/B testing different product options and recording participants' preferences. Primary data can be used to determine the strengths and weaknesses of your product, as well as guide you in pricing it.

Secondary data: This data is data that you have access to customer information. This data can include survey results from other companies or organisations and data from the government. Secondary data provides a wider view of the market, but it is important to remember that some data can be outdated and may be misleading.

These are just three other popular ways to do market research.

Interviews: These can include conversations during the idea phase or after any analysis exercises such as survey research or post-focus group.

Experiments: Use controlled testing to test your theories about the utility of your product.

Observe: Record and monitor consumer reactions and behaviour.

Different market research methods can lead to different timeframes, ranging from one hour to several months. They also have different price points.

Be respectful of others' time as you think about the methods that you will use. You should look into how you can do your research accurately and without bias. To avoid any tax liabilities, make sure you have cleared any cash payments with your legal or finance team.

What does it cost to conduct market research?

You can expect to spend between £2,000 to £5,000 per focus group, between £10,000 to £30,000 on consumer research and as high as £50,000 on business-to-business research.

Market research is usually not cheap. This is a large budget area that can cost hundreds to thousands of dollars. The amount you spend on market research will depend on your industry, your budget and your personal preferences. Either you pay a market research company to gather and report on the data, or you can do it yourself.

Incentives can be used to encourage people to participate in research activities such as focus groups or surveys. While some participants may not be compensated for their input, others will gladly provide information in return for financial rewards, discounts or gift cards. It doesn't matter what you offer, but it is important to disclose what the participants will get. Make sure you are specific. For example, if you offer a £20 Amazon gift certificate, don't tell participants that they will get £20.

Market Analysis: Free and cost-effective ways to do it

There are many ways that you can collect competitive and customer insights for free or very cheap.

On its website, Simply Business offers a wealth of ideas and help. Check to see if your local authorities offer any assistance or grants for small businesses. You may be able to do analysis online and through books at no cost by contacting your local library.

The software can be signed up for free to try out many different content research, SEO analysis and survey tools. You can try them all and find the one that suits you best. Then, convert to a subscription for those tools you most depend on. It is worth investing in software that supports growth.

Install Google Analytics once you have a website for your business. This free tool allows you to view information about your site visitors, including their demographics, location, type of device, and other details. You can also get insight into the pages and content they are most interested in. Google Analytics is a great tool for eCommerce businesses to see where and how many people are abandoning you during conversions. You can improve your landing pages and behaviour flow by using the many reports available (there are many that you can create).

Market Research is essential.

The success of your company depends on your ability to serve your customers. This starts long before you make your first sale. Although it can be tempting to invest less time in this aspect of building your company, it is crucial to make sure you do quality market research.

Market research is a powerful tool that empowers and guides you to make the right decisions for your business. While guesswork can waste valuable time and money, data-based decisions can help you drive your business in a positive direction.