A Guide to Market Research Methods

Key takeaways

Market research allows you to learn about and identify potential customers, helping you develop informed business strategies. Here are some important things to know:

• Ninety-five percent of businesses report experiencing a positive return on investment (ROI) from their market research efforts [1].

• Market research promotes informed decision-making, which can minimize risk and help improve your likelihood of success.

• You can learn valuable information from market research, such as your customers’ preferences, how you compare to competitors, the optimal pricing for a product, and much more.

Learn how to implement market research to give your business the information it needs so you can identify and capitalize on new opportunities. If you’re ready to get started, gain in-demand technical skills you need to perform market research and analyze marketing data by earning a Meta Marketing Analytics Professional Certificate. 

What are market research methods?

A market research method is the strategy you use to conduct market research. Market research is a process that uses data from sources such as consumers, economic trends, and competitive analysis to help you develop insights about the market your business operates in. 

These insights can include information such as how your product or service compares to competitors, the size of your target audience, how to improve existing products based on market gaps, and what’s currently trending. 

Types of market research methods

Market research methods fall under one of two categories: primary research and secondary research. Although both are useful, it’s important to use the right research method based on the goals of your research and other constraints, such as accessibility and cost. 

Primary research

Primary research is the process of collecting information directly from your target audience. Because you’re the one initiating the research, you can design your research strategy to specifically address the problem or question you’re trying to solve. However, when using primary research methods, consider that it can be more time-consuming to collect your own data, as well as more expensive than using secondary research. Examples of primary research methods include:

• Interviews

• Surveys

• Focus groups

• Experiments

Secondary research

With secondary research, you’re utilizing data and information others have collected that you can then apply to your own research efforts. Because the data you use for secondary research is previously obtained by a third party, you have the advantage of accessing the data more efficiently, rather than investing the time and money into collecting your own data. However, one notable difference compared to primary research is that with secondary data, you can’t ask specific questions or customize the research process, as the research is already complete. The ways you can access secondary research include:

• Journal articles

• Sales data

• Books

• Public data 

• Market studies

How does deep research compare to traditional market research methods?

Deep research is an artificial intelligence-powered research tool where you can automate the process of searching the internet, across hundreds of sources, in order to collect relevant information for your research—all based on the prompt you give the model. In comparison to traditional market research methods, deep research makes researching more accessible since you don’t need advanced research skills to find the information you’re seeking, and it can save you a significant amount of time. 

How to conduct market research

To conduct market research, follow these key steps: identifying a focus area, selecting a research method, collecting data, analyzing data, and utilizing your findings. Before conducting your research, it’s important to establish a plan, include a budget, and designate responsibilities if you’re working as part of a team. Once you have that sorted out, your market research plan can look something like this:

1. Identify a focus area.

Your market research starts with an end goal and an understanding of what you hope to achieve through research. This could be testing to see which iteration of a product consumers prefer or researching your competitors to identify a gap you could fill in the market.

2. Select a research method.

With your goal in mind, you can now choose the optimal data collection method, whether that’s through a primary research method, such as conducting interviews and surveys, or a secondary research method using existing data—or both.

3. Collect data.

Now that it’s time to collect your data, it’s smart to start with your secondary research methods, as this allows you to see what data is already readily available before designing your primary research methods. This helps you design your primary research around areas where the secondary research may come up short in answering your questions.

4. Analyze data.

After obtaining your research data, you can analyze it to find patterns and trends. Tools you can use to analyze your data include Python, SQL, Excel, R, and Google Analytics. Following your analysis, it’s helpful to transform your insights into visualizations to highlight your findings in a simpler format.

5. Utilize your findings.

With the information you learned from your market research, you can develop a strategy and make informed decisions. This could be learning how to tailor your product design to fit your customers’ desires, how to price your product to improve sales, or deciding to take advantage of an opportunity to fill a market gap.

B2B market research methods

When conducting business-to-business (B2B) marketing research, you can perform primary and secondary research. However, B2B research methods place an increased emphasis on qualitative data during research rather than quantitative methods. This is because B2B scenarios often have fewer respondents than business-to-consumer (B2C), making it challenging to gather statistically significant insights from quantitative data.

Getting started in market research

To start conducting market research, focus on acquiring a blend of technical and workplace skills. Primary technical skills for market research include data analysis, research methodology, and proficiency with statistical software. Additionally, communication and presentation skills are important for effectively presenting the findings of your research. 

With 95 percent of businesses reporting a positive ROI from implementing market research strategies and growing demand for market research analysts, now is a great time to get your start in this field [1].

Explore our free resources for market research analysts

If you’re interested in a career in market research, check out some of our free resources, like our Career Chat newsletter and more:

• Watch on YouTube: Tutorial: Exploratory Data Analysis in Python

• Learn digital marketing terminology: Digital Marketing Terms Every Marketer Should Know

• Take a tool tutorial: How to Connect Analytics to Google Ads

Whether you want to develop a new skill or get comfortable with an in-demand technology, keep advancing your abilities with a Coursera Plus subscription. You’ll get access to over 10,000 flexible courses. 

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