Primary market research is a customized research technique to pull data directly from the sources or potential customers of a company. The research employs techniques like – surveys, interviews, field tests, observation, and so on. Primary market research aims to collect customer feedback from every aspect: socially, emotionally, culturally, rationally, economically, etc. To name a few, it aids in probing deep into specific areas of business, evaluates the demand for both new and existing products and services, analyzing improvement areas and more drawing compact inferences.
Primary market research is a customized research technique to pull data directly from the sources or potential customers of a company. The research employs techniques like – surveys, interviews, field tests, observation, and so on. Primary market research aims to collect customer feedback from every aspect: socially, emotionally, culturally, rationally, economically, etc. To name a few, it aids in probing deep into specific areas of business, evaluates the demand for both new and existing products and services, analyzing improvement areas and more drawing compact inferences.
Exploratory research is an unstructured interview that helps to gather general feelings surrounding your product and services. Here a small group of respondents answers open-ended questions. It helps in determining whether to launch a new product. Specific research examines the pattern of the outcome of exploratory research.
Methods and Techniques of Primary Research
Surveys are widely used in market research. Surveys range from a small feedback form to an extensive web survey. It gives out a useful result when:
Surveys can be conducted to measure employee or consumer behavior, price research, collecting facts and figures, etc. through the following tools:
In-person Interviews
Discussing in-person and getting the data from the respondents brings out the most effective result. It is instrumental when gathering data in sensitive matters.
Telephone Interviews (CATI)
It is challenging to differentiate the bona fide telephone survey from the telemarketing calls; therefore, the reach is limited. Some respondents are easily accessible, while others are not.
Email Survey
Mailed questionnaires leave the respondents time to think and respond. Also, it reduces the chance of losing the survey papers.
Online Questionnaires
Being the most popular mode of a survey, it can reach the most significant number of people. The survey questionnaire must be designed to fit all devices like computer, tablet, or smartphone. It can be effortlessly saved and used whenever needed making the necessary changes.
Surveys are the best tools to collect data from existing potential customers. It helps a company in the following ways:
A Council from Dundee City, Scotland, administers several events on travel, education, healthcare and more in a year. They collect and maintain detailed feedback from every event. For a seamless understanding of feedback, they wanted to keep track of the impact of each event.
The challenge they faced was in the inconsistency of the data – owing to the different questions, or the same questions structured differently. They required more data to serve their purpose. They hired a market research company to design a survey to get consistent data, that guaranteed a trustworthy outcome. The result helped the council to create a benchmark for the economic data leading to a streamlined understanding of the areas of focus and improvement.
Focus group, as the name suggests, is targeted on specific demography, for example, "mothers under 35 with obese", "children under between 8-10 years playing video games more than three hours". Focus group survey is best for qualitative research. When conducted after a survey, focus groups can give a more in-depth insight into the results derived from a study.
Focus Groups are interviews which aim to explore the opinion of the customer. The questionnaire and discussion directed towards the focal point of the matter. The moderator guides the conversation in such a way that the participants discuss the given topic from the questionnaire out among themselves.
The discussion rooms have a mirror on the wall on one side, and the observing team would be seated on the other side. Members from the company must sit in the meeting room, along with the researchers, to take important notes from the participants without disturbing them.
While designing the focus group interview, the questions must be such that they stimulate a productive conversation with the respondents. To maximize the insights:
An organization dealing with laptops wanted to fathom the feedback of their customers with regard to the dimensions of their upcoming model. At this juncture, they decided to obtain feedback about the market directly from the focus group.
They appointed eight people from their target market to represent the focus group and a mediator to supervise the discussion to reach a constructive inference. The answers to the questions like the customer preferences, features they look into while purchasing a laptop, the latest market trends and some of their previous favorite launches helped the organization to understand the parameters better to incorporate in their new model.
Interviews are like focus group research wherein the individuals from the target group are interviewed, but unlike group discussion, here the moderator questions one participant at a time. The scope of interviews is large depending on the objective.
Questions would be specific, structured, and when necessary loosely ended general topics. The method is very useful when addressing specific matters like customer experience, consumer behavior, their preferences, opinions and attitudes, knowledge and attributes, and so on. The results help in strategic planning, decision making, deep insights in statistical data.
Companies require several data to understand deeply about their product and services. Be it an existing product, or a new launch, interviews are crucial tools to investigate about feelings and perceptions. It has high response rates as the respondents feel less self-conscious and are not influenced by others; doubts can be clarified, follow-up questions be put up.
Planning is the first step. It involves the following stages:
Once the above steps are done, and the data is collected, it must be analyzed and interpreted to reach the bottom line of the research and to act on it.
A renowned IT company conducted quantitative interview research on Polish companies to evaluate the usage of the latest IT technologies. A team of interviewers interviewed 150 respondents in Polish companies across decision-makers from various departments. With the results, the company was able to make key business decisions regarding the IT infrastructure and various sectors of the market related to it.
Experiments or Field Trials are quantitative research techniques that are conducted in uncontrolled environments and natural settings to test certain variables or hypotheses. Is your product useful? Which demography is more interested in buying your products? Why do you think others are opting out? You may watch your customers in a retail store to get a hint of these questions.
It is a quantitative method of data collection where you can observe and communicate with people in a natural environment. Field research is effective while redesigning a product. You can make a note of the frustrations your customers might have about your existing products and improve on it to build new products.
The research outcome is accurate owing to its being in the proximity with the subjects. At the same time, the data is secured as the environment is not monitored by the moderators. It aids in overcoming the lack of data, eventually leading to gain knowledge even in ancillary areas of the products, services, and business.
An FMCG company from the United States conducted field research to analyze the consumer preference on oyster from various brands, manufacturing location, and the method of production (aquaculture vs. wild-caught). They used only dichotomous questions which can be answered only as “yes” or “no,” “agree,” or “disagree,” etc.
The result showed a significant difference in behavior between the regular and the first-time oyster consumer. The irregular consumers were more drawn towards wild-caught while regular consumers preferred the aquaculture. The result helped the company choose the method of production based on consumer preference.
Observational research is extensively used in marketing and social sciences. Unlike experimental research in a quasi-artificial setting, observational research involves the observation of certain phenomena in their natural environment. It does not control the factors which bring out the accurate results.
Observational research is conducted in two different ways – either it's a combination of both observation and little interaction or its strict observation. The method measures the real behavior of the selected demography. It is important to market research since people tend to report a certain behavior while in a survey and otherwise behave differently.
Observation helps companies get actual feedback in terms of behavioral attributes. It allows researchers to find out the popularity of a product, how consumers are using it if there is negative feedback around and rooms for improvements, and most importantly, consumer perceptions. It leads to an informed decision about the product and services.
A company dealing with digital camera wanted to observe the intuitive use of products. The researchers provided a test camera to the participants with a mix of features which are common to other cameras, and some were unique to this model. They were asked to use the features and functions in the camera.
As an inference, it was found that previous knowledge of similar features helped the respondents to use them intuitively; however, unfamiliar participants, had to find out the functions which took more time and effort.
Research Optimus, with a decade of expertise in primary market research and a team of specialists, is well equipped to deliver you with primary research support tailored and limited to your business needs only. For more information on primary market research,Research Optimus, with a decade of expertise in primary market research and a team of specialists, is well equipped to deliver you with primary research support tailored and limited to your business needs only. For more information on primary market research, contact us today!
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