You’re conducting market research. What are some common mistakes to avoid?

2 Not choosing the right method

There are many different methods of market research, such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, observations, experiments, and secondary data analysis. Each method has its own strengths and limitations, and you need to choose the one that best suits your objective, budget, timeline, and target audience. For example, if you want to explore the attitudes and motivations of your customers, you might use qualitative methods like interviews or focus groups. If you want to quantify the size and characteristics of your market, you might use quantitative methods like surveys or experiments.

3 Not sampling correctly

Sampling is the process of selecting a subset of your population to represent the whole. Sampling is crucial for ensuring that your market research results are accurate and generalizable. However, sampling can also introduce errors and biases if you don’t follow some basic principles. For example, you need to make sure that your sample size is large enough to provide sufficient statistical power and precision. You also need to make sure that your sample is representative of your population, meaning that it reflects the diversity and distribution of the relevant variables. You can use different sampling techniques, such as random, stratified, or cluster sampling, depending on your research design and objectives.

4 Not designing good questions

The quality of your market research results is heavily reliant on the quality of your questions. Poorly designed questions can result in confusion, misunderstanding, ambiguity, or bias in your data collection and analysis. To design effective questions, you should use clear and simple language that your respondents can understand. You should also avoid leading, loaded, or double-barreled questions that could potentially influence or confuse your respondents. Additionally, you should use appropriate scales and response options that fit your research objectives and data analysis methods. To ensure clarity, validity, and reliability, pre-test your questions with a small sample of your target audience.

6 Not acting on your findings

The ultimate goal of market research is to provide actionable insights that can help you improve your business performance and strategy. To ensure you make the most of your findings, it's important to share them with stakeholders, highlight key takeaways, align them with your business goals, and monitor their impact on outcomes and customer satisfaction. Avoiding these common mistakes can ensure your market research is reliable, valid, and useful. Additionally, remember that market research is not a one-time activity, but a continuous process that requires planning, execution, and evaluation. By following the best practices and principles of market research, you can gain valuable insights that can help you grow your business and stay ahead of the competition.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?