Business leaders know that the top trends in market research provide valuable actionable insights such as how your target demographic perceives your company and your products. They are a powerful and helpful tool that businesses and brands use to connect to customers and improve the overall consumer experience. Well-planned research helps remove guesswork from business decisions.
Market research plays a vital role in developing your services and products and how to bring them to key markets. It can serve as a deeper insight that lets you see who your potential customers could be. It is essential to know current trends in market research techniques so that you can make smart, informed decisions. It also helps you prepare to take the next step for your business.
What Is Market Research?
Market research is the process of gathering data to identify whether or not certain products or business services will perform well. Through market research methods, you’ll be able to determine demographics, economic shifts, purchase behavior, monthly patterns, and seasonal patterns of both potential and current customers. This will provide you with actionable insight.
You can utilize the data from your market research to improve or create a product that your target market will love. The information you’ll get from market research participants is highly valuable. With an accurate representation of your target customers, and their corresponding feedback, you will be able to create business strategies that can decrease financial risks.
What Is the Current State of Market Research?
Market research strategies have been affected by the pandemic, according to the State of Marketing 2021 report from Salesforce Research. This is primarily due to major shifts in customer habits and shopping trends. As many businesses and companies needed to undergo a digital transformation and adapt to the changes, the market research industry continues to grow.
According to Statista, the industry surpassed $73.4 billion in revenue in 2019, which is two times more than the industry was valued at in 2008. This means that businesses increasingly view market research as an essential tool for richer insights into consumer behavior and preferences.
Impact of Remote Work on Market Research
Remote work doesn’t directly impact market research. However, it affects consumer behavior, which is one of the critical components of market research. According to a report by McKinsey, people who are working remotely have different wants and needs. It is probable that consumer spending will fluctuate through 2024.
According to a study from The New Consumer, 45 percent of consumers are now inclined to do their grocery shopping online. The remote workforce might have different preferences, but they mostly prefer home delivery services and invest in electronics and home tech support. These are all important insights that companies gain from different types of market research technology.
Top Challenges in Market Research
There have been dramatic changes in the market research industry, especially within the last two years. With that, it’s expected that consumer insights will be more in demand. At the same time, there are many challenges that can trouble a market research company.
- Difficulty in acquiring data: Government regulations have been stricter, especially regarding data privacy and security. Collecting personal data and ensuring security has been a real challenge since consumers became more careful, especially with sharing their details and thoughts. This can result in unreliable and incomplete responses as well as poor sampling.
- Intense competition with instant experts: Market research is now facing a time when self-proclaimed experts are given a chance to voice opinions. These “experts” are often considered equally as valid as market researchers who have undergone a long research process to get facts. Because of this, market research reports must now be presented entertainingly or sensationalized.
- Social media channels as resources: There is a great difficulty with using social media data, which challenges researchers to create new types of market research technology. The problem here is that the data from these channels can be disorganized and hard to interpret. That means the industry needs well-trained researchers to quantify qualitative data.
- Rise of mobile technology: The industry is also trying to deal with the emerging challenge of getting information from mobile phones. The industry must develop dynamic methods for data collection in order to get accurate information from mobile devices.
- Diversity of international markets: Every country has a different culture. Getting an accurate picture of consumer behavior requires insight professionals to take the culture of market research participants into consideration. With that, you have to cross-check the data you can get from market research against cultural factors that can potentially skew data.
What Are Some Future Trends in Market Research?
There are different market research trends that professionals understand well, and others that have just emerged because of the changes that are happening all around the world. Nevertheless, it is essential to take note of these common themes and be prepared for what’s about to come, especially if you are in the industry.
Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality
Virtual environments have given opportunities for product concept testing, understanding consumer behavior towards a developing product, and early-stage product feasibility analysis. With that comes a new approach to market research.
Virtual reality as a research method can be considered the biggest trend for the market research industry as it taps into the experience-driven market. Testing a virtual product with your target audience can help predicate consumer trends in an efficient way.
Why Is This Trend Important?
This trend is important because virtual reality can serve as yet another powerful market research tool to gain richer insights. However, market researchers need to ensure that they are keeping up with this rapidly changing technology.
Technology Playing a Big Role
Technology plays a pivotal role in collating data from different sources and helping market researchers analyze, interpret, and share their findings. Market research technology will continue to be part of collaborative research.
Why Is This Trend Important?
You can use different tools to keep up with marketing research technology. This trend is significant because many businesses and companies expect that the data they access will come from various sources that can only be accessed through technology.
Microdata Getting More Attention
Many people know about big data, but microdata is now gaining prominence. Companies now see that effective business decisions can come from individual customer’s behavior obtained from micro-level data patterns.
Why Is This Trend Important?
While big data has played an essential role in traditional methods, microdata or individual customer activity is now necessary to answer tough business questions. It’s essential that market research is adaptable and that market research teams can adjust with the new shifts and demands of the industry.
Online Qualitative Research and Social Listening
Due to the pandemic, it was challenging to do in-person focus groups and conduct qualitative research methods. Everyone has shifted online. With that, it’s essential to know what’s going on when it comes to social media platforms in order to gather ideas and poll audiences.
Why Is This Trend Important?
This trend is significant because you’ll be able to learn about buying behavior, complaints, and other micro and macro trends. Social listening might not always be applicable, but it is an excellent tool that market researchers can utilize in addition to traditional methods.
Real-Time vs. Agile Market Research
These two elements are essential and complementary. To be effective in the market research industry, you must combine reliable data and results. For example, real-time data will tell you when there are search queries for a product. On the other hand, online survey data can help you pinpoint the triggers and marketing efforts that led to a purchase.
Why Is This Trend Important?
This trend is significant because both are part of the future of market research. Both of the tools mentioned are crucial to getting data and drawing out information that can increase consumer purchases over a period of time.
Essential Market Research Skills for Today’s Professionals
If you’re doing research and inferring a lot of information from different data, there are skills that you need to either already have or learn. These skills are essential to be able to conduct successful market research. They will also help you handle the enormous amounts of data you’ll get.
- Data analysis skills: You’ll be collecting large amounts of data, so that means you should know the four data analysis types. These include descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, and prescriptive data. This skill will help you gain powerful insights.
- Interpersonal skills: The data obtained from market research needs to be communicated to stakeholders, peers, and other professionals, which is where interpersonal skills come in. It is essential that you have strong communication skills and can share information with clarity and accuracy.
- Data collection skills: Besides analyzing the data you will get, market research also requires professionals who know how to collect it. This means you have to understand how to conduct focus groups or customer interviews. You should also know how to create surveys and be able to determine what approach to market research is best for your needs.
- Organization skills: There are tools that can help you organize the data you get. However, it is also crucial that you know how to categorize and group the information from market research yourself.
- Problem solving skills: You’ll inevitably face roadblocks or challenges when you’re conducting research or getting data. The important thing is to brainstorm potential solutions and work through any issues.
Can a Coding Bootcamp Help Me Prepare for the Future of Market Research
Yes, a coding bootcamp can be helpful for you to learn about different marketing practices that will affect the future of market research. It could be helpful to learn skills such as cyber security, data analytics, software development, and web development, even if they are not directly foundational in market research. Many of the best coding bootcamps can help you to gain additional skills.
Top Market Research Bootcamps
Digital marketing covers topics including market research. You can check out the list below to learn more about these bootcamps. The following bootcamps, though focused on digital and online marketing, will also help you build a foundation in market research.
| Bootcamp | Program | Tuition | Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| BrainStation | Digital Marketing Bootcamp | $15,000 | In-person, online |
| Thinkful | Digital Marketing Bootcamp | $4,900 | Online |
| Simplilearn | Digital Marketing Specialist | $1,199 | Online |
| General Assembly | Online Digital Marketing Course | $3,950 | Online |
| JobPrepped | Digital Marketing | $549 | Online |
Current Trends in Market Research: Take the Next Step in Your Career
There are different trends in market research that are important to adapt to. Most of these trends sprung up during the last two years during the pandemic. To prepare for future trends it is important to engage with the greater market research community. Keeping track of customer behavior helps the market researchers adjust and find the best ways to get information from the consumer.
Consciously working to develop the skills needed to be in this industry are very important. You’ll have to know how to properly collect data, organize it, and share it with top management. There isn’t a specific marketing research degree, but marketing courses can be helpful to expand your knowledge further.
"Career Karma entered my life when I needed it most and quickly helped me match with a bootcamp. Two months after graduating, I found my dream job that aligned with my values and goals in life!"
Venus, Software Engineer at Rockbot
Trends in Market Research FAQ
Types of market research include primary research, qualitative research, quantitative research, customer research, and competitor research. Primary research means you collect the data itself. Data from qualitative research is non-numerical, while quantitative is numerical. Customer research focuses on knowing the customer, and competitor research is understanding your competition.
An example of a trend in market research is the use of microdata. This trend aims at focusing on individual consumer behaviors.
Market research is essential because it gives you insights about your products based on the customers’ behavior and their response towards your company.
The best market research methodology often utilizes questionnaires and online surveys. However, the best methodology will depend on what you are looking for and the purpose of the study.
About us: Career Karma is a platform designed to help job seekers find, research, and connect with job training programs to advance their careers. Learn about the CK publication.
