Are you looking to expand your range of offerings or add some new products to the catalogue? Before you jump into creating something new, it’s important to understand the market.
Look to identify market gaps to better understand the need of the hour. If you already have a product in mind, it’s better to get an estimate about how the market will react to it – before you put all your resources towards making the big launch!
The best way to get started? Market research surveys!
As you get started with conducting market research surveys, there are a few things to keep in mind. First off, you need to have a clear objective in mind. Is this to identify market vacuums, understand what your competition is doing (and how customer perceive them), see the viability of a potential new product, or something else entirely.
Your goal will be able to best guide your next steps, making it easier for you to create an effective market research survey.
However, as you get started, here are 10 tips to make sure you avoid pitfalls and make the most out of your market research project.
1. Keep it to the point
You have the objective in place, now it’s time to create the survey itself.
It can be tempting to ask for a lot of details – after all, data is king – but it’s better to stick to the point. With every question you include ask yourself, “is it really necessary?” and, “does it align with my objective?”
If the answer is no, then remove the question.
After all, the longer the survey, the higher the abandonment rate.
In an attempt to get the insights you need, you might end up with inaccurate, or even far too few, responses.
2. Use a variety of survey questions
The best way to keep your audience engaged is to switch it up. Use different question types so survey fatigue doesn’t set in, and employe interactive features. Focus mode on Sogolytics is one such feature that keeps survey fatigue at bay.
It allows participants to focus only on the question at hand without getting overwhelmed by the length of the survey.
3. Use visuals
Another great way to better participant engagement is by adding visuals.
A lot of text, whether it’s questions or answer options, can feel overwhelming – even before participants start reading.
Instead, break it up with visual elements to keep your participants engaged.
4. Make it mobile-friendly
We live in a technology-driven world, and smart phones are an intrinsic part of that.
Nowadays, everyone owns and accesses a smart phone, especially in their spare time. Got a few minutes to spare? You’ll see social media apps opening up.
So, when it comes to the survey you send out, make it equally accessible to your participants. Mobile friendly surveys are easier for your participants to access at their convenience, without the hassle of having to open up a laptop / desktop to answer the questions.
5. Pre-test your survey
What happens when the answer option participants are looking for just isn’t there in the survey? Or maybe the question feels a little too confusing to understand? It isn’t easy for survey participants to just reach out and clarify.
In fact, it’s added work – and one participants likely won’t take up.
You need to make sure your survey is perfected before sending it out. Whether it’s loading issues, question phrasing, or even answer options – test it amongst your colleagues to get a few extra pairs of eyes on the survey.
6. Use incentives
At the end of the day, your participants are doing you the favor by sharing their insights and perspectives. You need to make it worth their while. The best way to do this is by offering incentives such as gift cards, pre-launch offers, or even a discount code for your store.
7. Define your target audience
Market research insights are of no use if you aren’t getting it from the right audience.
So, begin by understanding who the target customers or market segments are – and then target them.
This will ensure that you get relevant insights to inform your next step.
8. Personalize your emails
Spam emails are far too common. How often do you just delete that random email that has a generic subject line without even looking at it?
If you want your audience to not do exactly that, you need to do something different: personalize.
Address them directly instead of adding a generic subject line. This way they know that the email is specifically meant for them.
9. Follow-up
Not getting responses? Nudge your participants to, well, participate.
Reminders are a great way to boost your response rates. After all, there can be many reasons for participants to not have participated, one of which is that they simply forgot or perhaps your email got lost in the pile. Either way, reminders can bump you to the top of their inbox (and their mind), increasing response rates and getting you the data you need.
10. Repeat your survey
Sure, the results from that one survey look promising. But if you really want to be thorough, make sure to repeat your survey at regular intervals and across your target audience.
This is the best way to get the insights you need while overcoming confounding variables that may otherwise crop up.
Perhaps you will notice that the first batch of responses were heavily skewed in one direction, or influenced by point-in-time factors. Multiple surveys establish reliability, making for a strong foundation to take an informed decision.
It’s time to get started!
Ready to design and distribute your market research survey? Choose a platform that is right for your business.
Sogolytics can help you capture the insights you need, while powerful analytics empower you to deep dive into the data. This helps you identify patterns, spot trends over time, and understand just what your participants are saying with ease.
Not sure where to start? You can schedule a call with Sogolytics experts, and they will give you a free demo of their platform so you can make the most of your market research project!
