What is Market Research Good for?

Why do you need market research when you are in UK? Simple, because you do not want to go and spend time designing and building  products/services without enough information in mind.  Just imagine how wide the UK is and how much you can lose if you  develop  services and products that people there do not need.  Well, in a nutshell, market research is very important.  It means having the right knowledge about your market before starting any business endeavor.  It is to  gather and know information like the target market, kind of service/product to sell, nature of the market, target people (including their needs, buying habits and interests) and kind/number of competitors.

Generally there are two types of market research, primary and secondary.   Primary research is when one collects information directly from the source. This includes information collected through telephone surveys, interviews and focus groups sessions. Talking to customers to garner feedback is often the simplest method and telemarketing is best known for this. This is usually costly compared to secondary research, however it can be tailored to suit specific needs and is valuable especially if one needs to know something more personal.   Secondary research on the other hand is conducted by looking at sources such as magazines, government publications, industry surveys, economic environment, trade associations, chambers of commerce, libraries, etc. This kind of research is usually less time consuming, less costly and may be sufficient if one only requires general information such as industry profile, trends and demographics, however most of the time this type of research is not updated but can still be very relevant if used wisely.  These two types of research work hand in hand to help businesses:

 1.  Communicate better.  They can learn about their potential clients — who they are and what they want the most.2. Identify opportunities.  They can check current competition and design strategies to do better than they can.  3. Minimize risk.  Market research helps them to come prepared, will be less likely to loose and more likely to win.  4. Create benchmarks to help  measure progress.  They can set the standard high from the start, they will be in a better position for sustained growth. 

Market research completes any marketing strategy.  It becomes an indispensable part of product development and a tool to search for various market factors that affect business development, consumer behavior and existing products.  After all of that have been discussed above, what one needs to do now is  simply think on how to work with this knowledge. His/her success largely depends upon understanding how his/her target audience thinks, feels and how it comprehends the service or product he/she is trying to sell. But he/she should also remember that market research is not an absolute science although it works to measure consumer responses.  Market research, above all, quantifies subjective opinions through statistics.  It tracks people, their feelings and behaviors which are influenced by many factors.

Lastly, market research has become almost imperative  to companies in the UK or anywhere else in the world. This is the reason why they resort to a call centre's telemarketing service to know what type of products or services would be profitable to introduce in the market.  Also with respect to their existing products in the market, good market research from these third parties enables them to know if they have been able to satisfy their customer's needs and whether there are any changes they need to make in terms of packaging, delivery or the product itself. This enables them to formulate a viable marketing plan or measure the success of their existing plan.