#markettesting

We've been talking about market research a lot lately, so we figured we'd break down what the traditional definition of market research is and how this has changed and developed in the last few decades with the advancement of technology.  First, let's cover the basic definition of "market research". Market research is the gathering of information about consumer needs, wants, and preferences. These consumers form a market. By conducting market research, an entrepreneur can determine how to develop a product effectively, based on the market's preferences.

Next, let's look at the distinction between primary and secondary market research.

What is primary market research? Primary market research is when you (or someone you've hired) conduct your own testing and research using a variety of different researching options. You don't rely on other sources as you create your own research results from scratch by setting up and conducting your own experiments. This means that the research conducted is customized to your project and is created based on your specific requirements and structure. 

There are advantages and disadvantages to this type of research. While it is very advantageous that the research is customized for your specific project, setting up and conducting the research can often be very time consuming. There are also a variety of options when determining which type of primary research is suitable for you. Do you want to use surveys, focus groups, interviews, observational research, or do you want to set up experiments and field trials? Choosing and creating the optimal structure and deployment of your research is an important, but often overwhelming and daunting task. It can also be quite costly, whether you're doing it yourself or you are hiring an external person or firm. However, the results can be directly applied to your project and may give you the insights you've been searching for. 

One of the quickest, easiest, and most affordable ways to conduct primary market research is to use CrowdPicker!

What is secondary market research? Secondary market research is when you search for and find other sources that can provide you with relevant information or research results. These sources can include published reports, publicly available statistics, books, journals, magazines, and more. 

Although secondary market research tends to be much more affordable (usually free), and access to it is quick so that you can determine it's value immediately, it is much more difficult to find research that is relevant to your specific project. This means that research you do find will have to be interpreted in order to fit your particular project which can make the results less reliable than those of primary research. 

A million questions surround the launch of any new product or project. Are people going to buy it? How much are they willing to spend? How should you brand yourself? So what's the best way to find answers? Market research. You've heard it before, market research is important. It's a crucial step in learning whether or not your idea is going to fly in the real world. But does it have to be such an ordeal to ask a few questions?

Big market researching firms want you to believe it does. They want you to think that it's a lot of work that takes a lot of time and, evidently, will cost you. But it doesn't have to. Here are 7 reasons why market research is a waste of time and money for 90% of entrepreneurs and small-business owners.

1. Most entrepreneurs only have a few questions they really need help with. Marketing firms offer their extensive services to their clients, including focus groups, consumer panels, surveys, and more. But what if all you really want to know is which logo best represents your brand? Are you going to want to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars and spend weeks waiting for the results? Or are you just going to pick one on a whim and hope it's the right choice? Neither option sounds optimal.

2. Spending time waiting for results can often slow development to a crawl. If you're waiting a couple of weeks for results, you're wasting valuable development time, especially if you're in the startup world. Using a traditional market research method will slow down your productivity and progress when it comes to expanding your idea because you'll be too focused on getting the answers you've just spent an arm and a leg on.

3. Cost vs. value. If you're going to use a market research firm to conduct your testing, you're going to be spending a good sum of money. But are you really going to be getting a ton of valuable info for that money? Often, the results reflect what you already knew or thought. Rarely are there really valuable insights that are the result of an extensive researching campaign. So why waste your money?

4. A focus on targeting can often limit insights. A lot of the market research that is done emphasizes the importance of targeting your consumer group to conduct research using your specific audience. While this can be beneficial in some cases, when your product is especially specific to a certain group such as pregnant women, retired seniors, or Italian-Americans, in a lot of cases it is unnecessary. Targeting a specific audience will limit your insights if your product is or can be more generally appealing. Leaving your market options more diverse can help you discover consumers that you may otherwise not have considered for your product and can benefit your innovation's future development.

5. The people who are conducting your market research don't really know what you're looking for. And you can't blame them, they're not mind readers. Even if the lines of communication are open and there is a good level of understanding, it is possible that the research conducted won't offer you the insights you need. You'll spend a ton of time and money on something that you could have done yourself in a few minutes or hours using different resources. 

6. If you do get insights and you want to redevelop or change aspects of your product, you'll have to go through the whole researching process again. Where do you draw the line? Once you have your research results back, with insights that are hopefully simple and clear to understand, you'll need to make changes to your product. Once you do, are you going to spend the time and money to research your adjustments, or are you just going to hope that this prototype will be good enough and has all the adjustments it needs to succeed?

7. Traditional methods tend to skew results. Focus groups and internal research panels will claim to be unbiased and optimal for the best results. But it's widely known that people will provide answers due to a variety of factors, including their mood and environment. Imagine you are one of the members of a focus group, sitting in a room with a researcher who is asking you a series of questions about a product that you don't really care about. Are you going to be completely honest? Are you going to feel comfortable with expressing your true opinion, or will you censor yourself? Delivery methods are important when doing market research and anonymity tends to be a factor in how accurate your results will be. Subjecting your product to a focus group or internal panel might do it more harm than good at the end of the day.

So there you have it. Traditional market research might not be as great as the market research firms want to make you believe. Unless your company is already rolling in the big bucks and can afford the thousands of dollars and weeks wasted to run a few questions about your product, you might want to go ahead and skip the whole thing.

We asked 250 people from around the world to tell us whether or not they are going to buy one of the newest iPhone models, the 5C or the 5S. It turns out that these models aren't proving to be as popular as previous ones. This might be because of the price, with the 5S ranging from $719 to $919, depending on storage size, and the 5C being slightly cheaper at $599 to $719 (all prices in Canadian dollars). It might also be because many iPhone users are still content with their previous version of the phone. Or it might be an omen of Apple's future with the iPhone. Who knows? This is what our weekly case study said.

The majority of respondents (77%) said they aren't going to purchase the newest model. 38% of these respondents are Android users and 28% said they are going to use an older iPhone model instead of purchasing one of the new 5s. 11% said they wouldn't purchase either model, even if they were being sold in their country.

Only 23% of respondents said they would purchase one of the new models, with 11% of these opting for the 5C, many because of its lower pricing point. 

Hey there! Welcome to the CrowdPicker blog. This is where we'll be posting our weekly case studies and keeping you updated on what's new and exciting in the world of market testing.