Market surveys are essential for doing marketing research. In fact, they measure the feelings and preferences of customers in a given market. They are quite variable in size, structure and purpose. In any case, they are among the main data collections used by companies and associations to understand which products and services to offer, but also to define how to deal with the marketing of the same. This article will teach you the basics of structuring a market survey and will give you tips for optimizing your results.
Steps
Part 1 of 3: Reaching the Right Market
Step 1. Clarify the objective of the market survey
Before you start planning, you need to be sure of the objective of the survey. What do you want to know? Do you want to try to evaluate if a new product will be favorably received by the market? Maybe you want to analyze the progress of your marketing strategies or understand if they are reaching the intended audience. Whatever your purpose, make sure you have a clear one in mind.
For example, imagine you have a company that sells and repairs computers. The goal of your market survey might be to figure out how many college students in the area know your company, but also how likely they are to buy or repair a computer yourself in the future
Step 2. Determine and define the nature, scope and size of your target market
Before conducting a survey in a certain market, you need to understand who you are referring to. Establish geographic and demographic parameters, identify customers by product type and roughly calculate the number of people who make up the market.
- Narrow your market research to a short list of useful data, such as buying habits or average income.
- Taking the computer repair firm itself as an example, it's pretty simple. You will consider college students. However, you might try to focus on the wealthier ones or the more tech-oriented ones who could afford to shop more frequently from you.
Step 3. Determine which aspects of the market you want to analyze
This will entirely depend on your goals, and the options are varied. Do you have a new product? You should look into whether it is easily recognized or whether it is desired in a certain market. Alternatively, you can try to evaluate the specific buying habits of your target market, such as when, where and how much they buy. The important thing is to clearly state what you want to know.
- Also, make it clear what kind of information you want. Do you want quantitative information to show to investors or qualitative information to make you think about how to improve your company?
- You could also specifically determine what prompted consumers to buy your product in the past. In this case, be sure to target the latest buyers (those who bought from you the month before the survey). Ask them detailed questions about the shopping experience and how they learned about the product. You will be able to improve the features they have preferred and solve the problems they have encountered.
- Considering the computer company example, you might specifically assess whether past customers will turn to you again and whether future customers will prefer you to a competitor (define how likely that is).
Step 4. Find out where and when you can connect with consumers in your target market
You can take a survey at the mall, on the street, by phone, online or by email. Results may change depending on the time and time of year. Choose a methodology and time that fits your research perfectly.
- When it comes to reaching customers, you need to know what kind of audience you're targeting. It can be the demographic goal decided in advance or simply a group of your previous customers.
- Make sure you keep your target audience in mind, especially when doing online surveys. Your target market, especially if made up of older people, may not be accessible through this medium.
- Taking the example of the computer repair company, you may decide to personally interview students at a college meeting point or online, through a commonly used website.
Step 5. Determine what kind of survey you want to use
Surveys can be divided into two main categories: questionnaires and interviews. The only difference is who records the information of the respondent. In the questionnaires, the respondent records their answers to the various questions, while in the interviews, it is the interviewer who takes note. Beyond that, there are other options related to how the survey is administered, whether it is online or in person. Surveys can also be carried out individually or in groups.
- Questionnaires can be handled in person, through the mail or even online. Interviews can be conducted in person or by telephone.
- Questionnaires are effective for market research and for getting answers to closed questions, but they can be expensive when it comes to printing them and can also limit the respondent's ability to express their thoughts freely.
- Interviews allow the interviewer to deepen more clearly, through subsequent questions, the thoughts of the interviewee, but they are more time-consuming.
- Group questionnaires can be an effective way to get good results, as respondents can collaborate so that they can answer your questions more comprehensively.
Step 6. Consider online survey platforms
They offer an efficient and cost-effective means of organizing the survey and the results. Just search for these platforms on the internet and compare different ones. Evaluate which one offers you the right tools for your survey. Just make sure you choose from sites that have a good reputation. You should also consider whether your target audience has enough knowledge in the technology field to allow you to conduct an effective survey.
Some of the most popular and well-known platforms include SurveyMonkey, Zoomerang, SurveyGizmo, and Polldaddy
Part 2 of 3: Achieving Optimal Results
Step 1. Choose a sample
It should be as large as possible to increase the accuracy of the results. You may want to create subsamples (such as "men", "ages 18-24" and so on) to decrease the risk of skewing the results and ending up with incomplete or unreliable data.
- Sample size depends on the level of accuracy of the results you aim to achieve. The larger the sample, the more reliable your results will be. For example, a survey targeting 10 participants leaves you with quite a large margin of error (around 32%). This would mean that the data collected is not reliable. A sample of 500 participants would still give you a more reasonable margin of error, 5%.
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If possible, ask participants to provide certain demographic information during the survey. The data can be general or specific, the choice is up to you. Make sure you include these questions at the beginning of the survey.
However, keep in mind that many avoid surveys that ask for personal information
- Still taking the example of the computer company, you should interview as many students as possible, perhaps dividing them by faculty, age or gender.
Step 2. Prepare a list of multiple choice questions that will allow you to obtain the data you need for your market research
The questions should be precise and specific. Develop questions with answers you can predict. Don't ask for the same thing in two different ways. Try to use as few words as possible.
- If you intend to know the true opinions of customers, try to package open questions that can be answered subjectively rather than giving a score or choosing an answer from those proposed.
- Instead, if you want numerical results, structure your questions accordingly. For example, you could invite attendees to rate products or services from 1 to 10.
Step 3. Think of a way to quantify the responses you receive
If you want to know customer preferences, you could ask attendees to rank their feelings with a number or by using keywords. If you ask financial questions, use ranges. If the answers are going to be descriptive, decide how to group them once you complete the survey so you can categorize them.
Still considering the computer company example, you could ask students how interested they are in visiting your store (1 to 10) and what kind of accessories they would like. It all depends on the type of information you need
Step 4. Identify the variables that could affect the results
These usually include some characteristics of the people most likely to take surveys. To get reliable results, you need to understand how to reduce the influence of these subjects.
Still considering the example of the computer company, you may be able to do this by skimming the participants before the survey. If you plan to do business mainly thanks to engineering students, invite only them to complete the questionnaire, even if in theory it would be the history or literature students who are most likely to take your survey
Step 5. Ask someone to take a look at the survey
Before taking the survey, you must concretely test the questionnaire, perhaps with the help of friends or colleagues, to make sure that the questions make sense, the answers you will receive will be easily quantifiable and the survey is easy to complete. In particular, ask them to make sure that:
- The survey is not too long or complicated.
- Do not make irrational assumptions about the target market.
- Ask questions as directly as possible.
Part 3 of 3: Taking the Survey
Step 1. Determine what time and where the survey will take place
Make sure you combine the time and place appropriately, so as to involve as large a sample as possible. Alternatively, if you do it online, advertise it on the most visited sites in the target market, or send it by e-mail to carefully selected recipients.
- For an online survey, this would be the time frame within which the survey is available (how long do participants have to complete it).
- Still thinking about the computer company, imagine that the engineering students (ie the target market) are busy all day in the laboratory. You should schedule the survey before or after this time frame.
Step 2. If you are using a questionnaire, carefully check the wording of the questions
Make sure you correct them several times, then ask someone to review them. Keep in mind that the survey should be no longer than five minutes and should have pretty easy questions.
Step 3. Conduct the survey maximizing sample size and accuracy of responses
Remember that it may be necessary to do this more than once or in several places in order to get complete results. Just make sure it's exactly the same, even though times and seats change, otherwise the results may vary.
Using the example of the computer company, you have to choose different places and days to interview students who have different hours
Step 4. Analyze the results
Record and tabulate numeric responses, making sure to calculate averages and analyze outliers (particularly low or high ones). Read and examine the answers developed independently by the participants to understand how they structured them and what their opinions are. Fill out the information in a report that summarizes your findings, even if it were for personal use only.
Go through the answers to find interesting quotes from customers. Any particularly memorable, creative or positive phrases can be recycled for future company advertisements
Advice
- It is always better to do targeted and specific surveys rather than trying to cover a wide range of topics in a questionnaire. The fewer issues you try to deal with, the more detailed and useful the data you receive will be.
- Offer accurate results. It is much better to provide accurate results obtained from a small sample than to add unreliable ones just to increase the dataset.
