[2023] What Are The Key Stages Of Marketing Research Processes?

Marketing research process term is a huge process that consists of understanding the market, developing strategies that will perform on the market, placement of the products that will perform in the market, and finally ensuring the company’s evolution.

Marketing strategies term is not new; it was also used during traditional marketing but was not valued. However, with the advent of digital marketing, where everything can be measured, marketers have seriously started taking the whole marketing research process. 

If you are here, that means you are already a marketer. If so, then you must have heard of the 4 Ps. or the marketing Mix.

• Product: Good and services.
• Price: Cost of the products and services.
• Place: Location where the product is marketed.
• Promotion: It includes advertisements for products & services.

These are the forms of the marketing mix or, rather, marketing factors that need to work in harmony to be successful in the market.

An overview of what to expect from the article.

• What Is Marketing Research?
• What Are The Types Of Marketing Research Processes?
• Key Stages In Your Marketing Research Process?
• Frequently Asked Questions.

What Is Marketing Research?

Marketing research is all about gathering information, sorting it out, and then making decisions based on the data. This process might seem quite simple, but that is not the case. However, marketing research processes take on many forms, and one of the common forms is systematic inquiries.

Not all the research processes indeed follow a generalized pattern. However, in the case of marketing research, the sequence follows a generalized pattern.

What Are The Types Of Marketing Research Processes?

Marketing Research Processes generally are categorized into primary and secondary.

Primary

You usually do the primary research process, or you can hire someone to do that for you. This process involves visiting customers or prospecting customers directly to collect information.

The whole process can involve the following procedure.

• Surveys.
• Interviews.
• Asking Questions.
• Focus Groups.
• Visits your competitors’ locations to have better insight.

Secondary

Secondary data are the information that you do collect yourself. Instead, they are just the collection of the data that are being collected over time. However, the following can be the resources for the secondary marketing research process.

• White papers.
• Analyst reports.
• Customers emails.
• Customers surveys and feedback.
• Competitive research work

Key Stages In Your Marketing Research Process

You will be surprised to know that the marketing research process is one of the organization’s first things to be allotted to the budget. Though it might not be the best decision for the companies planning to launch a new product very soon, it is a part of the marketing strategies.

Let’s explore the key stages of the marketing Research Process.

1. Identify The Correct Sequence In The Marketing Research Process

Any research starts with identifying the problem. If you have even been a part of a management team, you would have noticed that the discussion highlights the management team’s issues while processing. 

However, these problems need to be understood, and you need to formulate a solution to tackle these problems.

Let’s analyze what a marketing research problem is. 

It is to comprehend the preferences and purchasing habits of customers. It also tells you whether the product or service made a profit. 

The problem statement defines distinct and clear objectives behind executing the study. Your research hypothesis, approach, conclusion, and suggestions depend on the problem statement.

The Story Behind the Problem

Before delving into solutions, let’s first gain an understanding of the issue by looking at its background. Through this, we can better comprehend the problem and come up with the best possible solutions.

Let’s Come To The Problem

Here it would help if you got the answer to the following:

• Where does the problem come from?
• What is the exact problem?
• What are the factors that can aggravate the problem?

Now that you have identified the problem, why do you need to solve it? To answer this, answer the following questions:

• Why is this study necessary?
• What will happen if this study you ignore the study?

Once you have identified the problem and its justification, it’s time to decide how you will go about solving it. 

Scope Of The Problem

Let’s dive into defining the scope of the problem. What are your desired outcomes, and what changes would you like to see through your research? Follow our tips to create a problem statement for your thesis or dissertation in no time.  

2. Developing A Research Process

The scientific method to go around the marketing research process is standard investigations.

Develop a roadmap that drives you toward the desired outcomes. 

Choosing the right data sources and identifying your target audience are two essential steps in effective planning. 

While conducting Primary research, you need to consider the following: 

• Get quick insights from your target audience by conducting the survey. 
• Are you looking to gain deeper insights? Design a suitable questionnaire for maximum results.

Secondary research can be a great time-saver and cost-effective way to gain data. 

Choosing the right marketing research methods is key. Consider these options to find the best fit for your research problem:

Interviews 

How do you conduct the interviews? Telephonic, virtual, or face-to-face? Decide first!

Interviews will help you to assess the expectation of the consumer. 

You can ask them how long they have known the brand and what they think it is offering that none of the competitors offer. 

Surveys

When it comes to primary research, surveys are an important mechanism that can help you understand the raw customer data. This includes – product demands, best practices, etc. 

A/B Testing 

Imagine you’re launching a website unsure about the designs, elements, headlines, visuals, etc. Here you can create two different versions of the website and test which version is working the best. This is what A/B testing is all about: you try out two versions of the same variable. It helps you to identify. 

Social Media Polls 

Conduct a poll on social media and tap into the pain points of your existing and potential customer. This will give you a reflection of the product or services that the company is selling. 

Following this entire will help you to conduct your market research in a hassle-free manner. 

So make sure you follow them for optimum results.  

3. Selecting A Sample

Ready to create your perfect sample for your marketing research project? 

Choosing the correct inquiry methods to collect the most relevant data is important, but you mustn’t forget about the research method. 

Two Methodologies That You Can Use While Collecting Data

• Experimental Research

Experimental research is process orientated, and the researchers can control the variable. 

• Non-Experimental Research

Non-experimental research allows you to observe the whole process and restrict your intervention. 

Which Population Is The Sample Taken From? 

When you determine who your specific population is (your research design process should show this), you have a base for your sample. This will enable you to conclude a larger population.

How Do You Select A Sample From A Population? 

There are two methods you can use:

• Probability Sampling

This involves randomly selecting members from the larger population.

• Non-probability Sampling

This involves using the investigator’s discretion and often utilizes convenience samples or other sampling methods that don’t rely on probability.

Make sure you select the right method for the best results!

How do you find your ideal sample size? This step is a vital one, involving cost and accuracy judgments. Generally, bigger samples reduce sampling error and increase accuracy but can also increase expenses. Use our calculator to discover your perfect sample size!

4. Gathering Relevant Information

Your research data will depend on the techniques you have selected to gather the data. Whether you are collecting data in an operational (O data) way or an experienced (X data) way, the type of data gathered will be different.

• O-Data

O data are the operational data and represent your business’s costs, accounting, and ROI. This data will tell what has happened but will not tell you the reasons.

• X-Data

X Data is just the opposite of the operation data. These data are more emotional and though-oriented data.

Both types of data work separately to give your different kinds of information. However, if you can merge the data into one, you will be able to see complete data with pictorial representation.

5. Organizing Collected Data

The collected raw data are of no use. You will find no value in unsorted data. They hold no insightful importance. However, once you have sorted them out, the data now uncover some useful information that can help your organization boost its business.

Statistical data can reveal the following:

• Whether the collected data is worth your time or just results collected by chance.
• Does it have any insight to help your business?
• What research you should cover.
• Insight on the meaningful changes that your organization has gone through in the last year.

6. Present Findings

Your marketing research process culminates all the findings in one place. However, these collected data should be enough for the decision-making bodies whose decisions are data influential. For example, the collected data can show the following findings.

• Performance of the organization.
• A field where the organization has improved.
• A field where the organization needs to work on.
• Pictorial representation of the collected data.

Today with the new technological intervention, representation of the data has become easier.

7. Take Research-Based Decisions

Put your insights to work! 

Data and research are one thing, but they are worth nothing if they do not have insightful value. However, the collected data needs to have insightful value and highlight the next course of action.

Here are some actions the data can ask you to perform.

• Customer Retention.
• Employee Safety Concern.
• Boost Marketing Efficiency.
• Brand exposure. 

Retain Customers – quickly identify any negative sentiment from VIP customers; the customer service team contacts them, resolves their issues, and reduces churn.

Address Important Staff Issues – you can establish particular topics, for instance, safety or diversity and inclusion, to initiate an automated alert or Slack message to HR. They can quickly act to resolve the problem engagingly.

Put product issues to bed quickly and easily! Smart Conversations can help you detect and address delivery and product issues promptly. Get your teams on the job with the help of automated messages, so your customers get the service they deserve.

Unlock your marketing Potential –  Gain insights on how your marketing efforts are perceived by your target audience, and learn how to serve them better.

Expand Your Brand- Recognize precisely what customers are searching for, so you can guarantee that you excitingly satisfy their desires.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

We get a lot of emails from our readers on several marketing subjects. Some ask us questions that are really hard for the new guns in the industry. So we have curated a few questions covering their queries.

Takeaway

The marketing research process is the very first step of any project. It consumes lots of time and organizational investment. Here in this article, we have covered every aspect of the marketing research process. However, even after this, you find yourself not getting the answer you were looking for. Feel free to contact us. We are always here to help you.

Also Read:

• Blogger Outreach Guides
• LinkedIn Marketing Strategy
• How Digital Marketing Can Help Small Brands?