While walking down a busy street, you might have noticed some names on the billboards that catch your attention, and some even manage to leave an impression on your mind for a very long time. Yes, we see brands all around us; they form an integral part of our everyday life. But brands are more than mere taglines and logos. Have you ever thought about how brands create such a profound impact on our lives? Well, the answer is market research. It is through the use of market research that brands get to know our sentiments, our needs, our buying behavior and our preferences and customize their products accordingly. For instance, McDonald’s introducing a veg burger menu, primarily to cater the Indian audience or KFC introducing ‘Beyond Meat’, to offer plant based options for people who are more health conscious was done after these brands checked the pulse of the market through use of market research.
If you are a regular on our blogs, you might have noticed that we keep urging you to participate in surveys and share your valuable opinions to help brands curate better products and services for you. In this blog, you will understand why your opinion matters and how they can shape the products and services that you use. Also, we will share some interesting case studies where brands had to change their product after taking consumer opinion into consideration.
What Exactly is Market Research?
Before we delve into the depth of market research, knowing what it is all about is essential. Say you are into the business of baking cakes. You want to launch a new, unusual flavor of cake (maybe a sweet potato cake or a coke-flavored cake). You dive right in and you see that the quirky flavor is not received well by your customers. This will lead to you either discontinuing the product or losing money. Now imagine the loss on a much bigger scale. Market research plays the role of a safety net for businesses. In simple terms, with the use of market research brands can collect and analyze information or data about a particular market, their business prospect, their product or services. Surveys, focus groups, in-depth interviews, and online paid surveys are just some of the methods that are used in market research. Market research helps in understanding the actions, opinions and preferences of consumers like you.
How Market Research Shapes Products and Services
Now that you know why market research is important, let us see how it (i.e. the opinion shared by consumers like you) shapes products and services.
Identifying Your Needs:
For a business to better serve you, they need to learn about your wants and requirements. For example, if you love coffee, a coffee manufacturer might want to know your preferences. The research might show whether there is a liking for cold brew or hot coffee, or a new flavor of coffee. The analysis of these data can help the coffee brand to introduce a new addition to its menu that will be best accepted by many.
Speaking of coffee, Starbucks is the world’s largest coffee chain, and the secret of its success lies in the extensive market research they have been conducting for the past 14 years. Starbucks gathers consumer feedback through My Starbucks Idea platform. Customers, prospective customers, and staff members can all use this website as a central hub to share their original concepts. Ideas can be anything from entirely new products to tweaks to existing ones. When planning future business and advertising initiatives, Starbucks takes all these inputs into account. So, next time you drink a coffee, don’t forget to leave your opinion about it. With the use of market research brands will get to know your preference as they pay special attention to your likes and dislikes and will work to fulfill them.
Improving Product Design:
Market research plays a significant role when it comes to enhancing product design. When businesses actively seek out your input, they are better able to pinpoint problem areas and implement solutions. A laptop manufacturer, for instance, would need your input in knowing whether you want more storage space, extended battery lives, or higher resolution displays in their upgraded version. With this data in hand, it can better tailor its offerings to you.
When we think of design, there is only one brand that comes to our mind – Apple Inc. Apple is among the most successful tech companies in the world, thanks to its dedication to product innovation and market research.
Apple Customer Pulse is an online community dedicated to understanding the wants and requirements of tech consumers through data analysis and market research conducted through a number of customer satisfaction surveys. These polls have allowed Apple to refine and improve its products in response to customer feedback.
And just like Apple Inc., other brands too do regular surveys to get your feedback on their existing products. So, say if you are not satisfied with your mobile screen or the battery life of your laptop, do let them know about it. There could be many like you facing the same issue and looking for a solution. Ensuring the brands listen to you will help in enhancing the product quality.
Pricing Strategies:
Use of market research data is also helpful for businesses when trying to set prices for their goods and services. Companies can more successfully compete and turn a profit by charging prices that are in line with what you are ready to pay.
To help you understand this better, we will take you through how Netflix had to change its pricing structure to suit its audience. Netflix stated in 2011 that it would be offering two separate plans for its streaming and DVD-by-mail services, with the latter costing up to 60% more for customers who wanted both. Consumers reacted strongly to the news on social media. As a result, Netflix had to go back to its old pricing structure.
Another such example is Uber. Uber surveyed its users and discovered that many of them were dissatisfied with the company’s surge pricing strategy. In light of this criticism, Uber stated that it would modify its surge pricing model and would lower the maximum surge multiplier in some markets. Uber’s pricing model was refined in response to customer feedback, allowing the company to better serve its clientele. This shows the value of customer feedback in guiding company strategy.
Final Thoughts
Market research plays a critical role in shaping the products and services that we use in our daily life. With the use of market research data, brands and companies understand our needs and preferences and develop products and services that meet those needs. They can also use market research to connect with consumers, identify new customers, test new markets and develop effective services. So, what are you waiting for? If you haven’t registered with The Panel Station, do it now. Your opinion is valuable and can help brands make better products and services. And you can win exciting rewards and gift vouchers when you share your opinion and complete surveys on The Panel Station. Celebrate the power of your voice.
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18 Comments
Ler e se manter conectado a tudo que nos cerca .traz conhecimento para a vida e está aberto para novas oportunidades e saber
I believe in market research it helps you to grow as a person and gain knowledge to what you had an idea.
Well written.
I believe in market research it helps you to grow as a person and gain knowledge to what you had an idea.
Market research helps evaluate SWOT S- strengths W- weaknesses O -opportinities to explore T- threats in to make strategies
Market research are vital informations that every business should carried out to enable you define the structure and delivery of your business.
Yes market research is very important. It doesn’t even take being a global company for you to do market research. You can at your own level do market research.
Being a business analyst at a stage of my life market research were such a crucial part of my job.
You can not start a business without doing research on the product or services you would like yo provide.
This is why I like to participate in market research as a consumer, I get to influence companies on what they need to do about their products and set their prices
A very good article indeed
Very good
جيد
artikel yang bagus
ث السوق هي احد الادوات المهمه لدراسه متطلبات العملاء والسوق وهي اداه ناجحه لتحديد المنتجات ومميزاتها
Very good article
This is why I like to participate in market research
العميل هو السوق والسوق هو العميل مافي غنى لواحد عن الاخر
العميل هو السوق والسوق هو العميل مافي غنى لواحد عن الاخر لذلك رايي العميل ليس فقط يشكل السوق