Secrets and misconceptions about market research
There are many ideas and beliefs within us that have spread incorrectly or inaccurately. Just think of the character of the hedgehog happily sipping milk in fairy tales, or that it is warm in summer because the Earth is closest to the Sun then. Now let's look at some misconceptions related to market research.
I know the market and the product; a research cannot tell me anything new.
We do not claim for a second that we know the product or market better than the manufacturer or the client. The essence of research is to understand consumer needs, expectations, experiences, to find out who the target group is, what they know about the brand, and what they know about the competitors.
Based on consumer opinions, we can find out how we could increase profits, how to sell more products, and acquire more customers. Market research can help in figuring out how to do it even better.
Years of experience show that although the client knows the product and the market very well, they are often either too biased regarding it or focus so much on a specific task that they no longer see the problem as a whole. In such cases, market research is useful. Not only Pista's opinion about the production line and Marika's about HR is important, but also the consumer's, to whom the product is to be sold.
We look at (or have many „virgin” eyes look at) the product, communication material with an unfamiliar, „virgin” perspective, pointing out change requests that may seem trivial but fundamentally hinder the use of the product or service.
Here is a practical example: the task was to select the cap shape that best fits a fabric softener brand, while the softener itself was in a 2-liter package and had no handle or grip. It is obviously more important that the beautifully designed flower-shaped cap can be unscrewed with wet hands, rather than a bottle of softener landing on the floor. Therefore, market research is often necessary due to a different, more global perspective, and to find out which type of "perspective" is more relevant.
Only representative research can answer my question.
Nowadays, the term REPRESENTATIVE has become the magic word; everyone wants it, even if the topic of the research does not require it. Some even want a representative qualitative research. However, the correct magic word is GOOD SAMPLING – knowing what our goal is and from which target group we need to gather information, whose opinions we need to consider.
It is common for the client, knowing the research objective, to not necessarily need a representative survey, but rather a targeted one. Therefore, it is important for the client to spend time with the researcher to define the target group as accurately as possible. This is important to clarify because a truly representative study is costly.
Market research is wasted money.
A very small proportion of Hungarian businesses engage in market research. This is mainly due to financial reasons, but it is also a fact that the idea of research and the budgeting of its financial implications have not yet become part of Hungarian corporate culture. Only a few see it as an investment, even though a well-thought-out and executed study is not an expense, but a long-term investment.
The research results are needed by yesterday.
Market research is time-consuming. Just as good goulash or bread needs time to be prepared, market research also has its time requirements.
And now I will reveal a few secrets about market research that we have observed during our work:
Hungarians are more positive and prone to exaggeration..
To the key question of „would you buy it?”, our compatriots respond affirmatively in greater numbers than in other countries – however, actual purchases fall short of the measured ratio. This is why it is important for an experienced researcher to analyze the research data, as even the most accurately collected data can be misleading in some cases.
If we do not like poppy seed bread pudding, how can we choose the tastiest one from several recipes?
Even with careful target group selection, there can be cases where subjects must choose the most appealing product, service, or communication message from options that do not meet their threshold of interest. In such cases, multi-point scaling, comparison with benchmarks, and changes in body language or group dynamics in qualitative research can provide significant insights.
Currently, the market research primarily examines what customers SAY about what they do, rather than how they actually behave.
Unfortunately, there can be and is a discrepancy between the two. However, testing real behavior on large populations with a significant sample size is very costly, time-consuming, and complicated.
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