Editorial Staff
Market research plays an essential role in many aspects of business, from product development to customer relations and near enough everything in between.
So why is it so difficult to master? For smaller business, the issue often tends to stem from the seemingly high initial costs.
If you felt as though your brand needs a boost through some reliable market research, it is worth thinking about the various hurdles and pitfalls involved.
By making yourself aware of the potential setbacks, you can assuredly avoid them in your quest for data and insight.
The Timeframe
While quantitative research may be done fairly quickly, the numbers may not have as much value with a qualitative counterpart.
This might mean conducting interviews and in-depth surveys, both of which can be terribly time-consuming. This is likely bad news for a company working with a small cache of resources.
With the right tools however, this time can be greatly reduced, and neither the quality nor the integrity of your findings has to suffer in the meantime.
For example, by using reliable software that can transcribe audio to text accurately, you no longer need to waste time on manually writing up your interviews.
This can reduce the number of employees needed to conduct the interview and generally streamline the process from start to finish.
Data Reliability
Data is extremely valuable in the right hands, but not all of it is worth noting in the first place.
Unreliable data can be damaging throughout the market research process, and it arises in many different ways – it may be out of date, factually inaccurate or from a disingenuous source.
Learning to identify this data and sort the good from the bad is a great first step on the road to better information handling, and it all starts with tidying up.
This could mean securing your findings in a singular, easy to access online location, one that can be quickly updated at a moment’s notice.
Leaving old data lying around could have a negative effect on any integrated analytics processes you might be using, plus it is annoying having to sift through tons of old data on a regular basis.
Sample Quality
Sometimes, simply getting enough people to take part in research opportunities is the toughest part of the process.
This can cost a great deal of money and energy, and there is no guarantee that the sample will be representative of the ideal demographic you intend to reach.
Moreover, participants may lie, misremember or just change their mind soon after a survey/interview, rendering the data unreliable in many ways.
There are some tried and true methods of sample gathering, but perhaps using a range of different techniques can ensure that you get the best possible results.
Random sampling could be good for those of you wishing to ensure your results are more reliable, but this can be expensive. It is also worth turning to reliable online research platforms like Statista, as you may find that they have the number you’re looking for already.
