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There are several important steps to note when you're beginning the process of c

onducting a market research study. Here are the top five to keep in mind:
1. Decide what it is you want or need to know about your market. You may be look
ing to establish your target market or better understand it. You may be wonderin
g how to position your product or what price you should charge for the product.
How to promote your product may be the piece of information you are looking for
or where to sell the product or how to distribute it, e.g., the Internet or at a
Brick and Mortar Store. You may need to look to consumers for the answers you n
eed regarding redesigning your product or even what product you should produce.
2. Phrase the information into three or four specific research study objectives.
Go over the objectives with other key leaders in your company, asking for their
input and ideas on what the study should focus. Be open to new ideas or a direc
tion for the project that had not been part of your original focus. In the end,
create a final list of objectives upon which the study will be built.
3. Decide on the research design and a budget for the project. Ask yourself and
other key managers what would be the most appropriate design for the study based
on what you need to know and your budget. Consider qualitative research (conduc
ting a focus group), or quantitative research (a questionnaire to be administere
d individually to respondents). Think about conducting a study involving mystery
shoppers at your place of business. Determine the number of respondents to be i
nvolved in the study based on what you need to know and the level of accuracy yo
u desire for the study. Ask yourself how much information could be obtained usin
g primary research versus secondary research (Primary research is more costly bu
t yields more accurate results while secondary is less accurate and specific but
can be conducted at a lower cost).
4. Develop a questionnaire to be used for the study. Go over the questionnaire w
ith others on your management team, making sure the questionnaire will provide t
he information you need to know, based on your objectives. Make sure it is worde
d appropriately given the particular respondents who will be answering the quest
ions. Make sure it s not too complex for tabulating the data or entering the data
after the questionnaires are complete.
5. Enter or tabulate the data from the questionnaire. You may use a software pro
gram such as SPSS or you may tabulate the data by hand. Carefully analyze the da
ta, looking for numbers that stand out indicating areas for concern or areas whe
re your team should be congratulated, as well as trends to anticipate in the fut
ure. Write a market research report with key findings from the study, a summary
of what the study revealed along with a list of recommendations for your company s
continual growth and success in the market.
How to Make a Market Survey
Market surveys are an important part of market research that measure the feeling
s and preferences of customers in a given market. Varying greatly in size, desig
n, and purpose, market surveys are one of the main pieces of data that companies
and organizations use in determining what products and services to offer and ho
w to market them. These steps will teach you the basics of how to make a market
survey and offer tips for optimizing your results.
1
Determine and define the nature, extent, and size of your market.
Before conducting a survey in a given market, you need to know what market you'r
e targeting. Choose geographic and demographic parameters, identify customers by
types of product, and get an idea of how many people there are in the market.
Narrow your market research to a short list of desired data: buying habits, for
example, or average income.
Determine what aspects of the market you want to investigate.
Find out where and when you can reach customers in your market.
You might conduct a survey at the mall or on the street, via telephone, online,

or through the mail. Your results may change based on the time of day and year.
Choose a method and time that best suits your research.
Choose a sample size.
Your sample size should be as large as possible to maximize the accuracy of your
results. You may want to create sub-samples e.g., "males," "18-24 year-olds," etc
. to decrease the risk of biasing your results towards certain types of people.
Prepare a list of questions with answers that will provide the data you need for
your market research.
Your questions should be pointed and specific. Craft questions with answers you
can predict. Do not ask the same thing in two different ways. Try to use as few
words as possible.
Devise a way to quantify the answers you receive.
If you are asking about preferences, you may want to ask respondents to rank the
ir feelings numerically or using keywords. If you are asking about money, use ra
nges of values. If your answers will be descriptive, decide how to group these r
esponses after the survey is complete so that they can be grouped in categories.
Identify variables that might affect your results (usually characteristics of pe
ople who are more likely to answer surveys) and figure out how to reduce their i
nfluence.
Set a time period and location for your survey that is likely to result in the l
argest sample size.
Prepare your survey forms.
Conduct your survey, maximizing sample size and accuracy of responses.

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