35% of startups fail because there is no market need for their products. Moreover, Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen says 95% of product innovations do not succeed. That’s not it. 1 in every 5 new products fails to meet consumer expectations.

What do the above statistics convey? 

• Bad product-market fit.
• Poor innovation.
• Lack of consumer understanding.

But that’s not the real deal. If you try to think a little deeper, you will realize that all of these problems arise from one single activity gone south—MARKET RESEARCH. 

In today’s blog, we will understand:

• What is market research, and what are its types?
• Why is it a stepping stone to success?
• How do you conduct solid market research like StartInc?
• Market research tools that are truly a blessing

Ready? Let’s go! 

What Is Market Research, and Its Types?

Market research is like a treasure map and growth chest for startups. It’s a systematic process of gathering, analyzing, and interpreting information about a market, its customers, and its competitors. This valuable data helps entrepreneurs like you make informed decisions and reduce the risks associated with launching a new venture. 

Market research can be roughly understood under 3 broad headings:

1. Primary vs. Secondary 

• Primary Research: Involves gathering information and data yourself by going directly to the target audience via methods like one-on-one interviews, surveys, and focus groups. 

• Secondary research: Includes gathering information from previously collected, analyzed, and published data. For instance, government records, magazine articles, journals, reports, etc. 

2. Qualitative vs. Quantitative 

• Qualitative research: Collection of primary or secondary data that is non-numerical. It helps to infer and summarize than pinpoint an exact number. Thus adding more depth to overall understanding. 

• Quantitative research: Collection of primary or secondary data that can be quantified in terms of numbers. It has more to do with facts and figures and thus can be used for further statistical analysis and predictions.

3. Specific To Topic Areas

• Branding research: Uses various research methods like surveys, interviews, polls, etc., to understand the brand performance, how it is perceived, areas for improvement, and more. The goal is to create a distinct identity for your business, maintain it, and later enhance it.

• Customer research: Concerned with customer insights, behavior, preferences, satisfaction, and loyalty. The goal is to know your customers inside out and learn how they interact with you.

• Competitor research: The focus here is on your competitor’s offerings, strengths, weaknesses, and approach in comparison to yours. Helps you position yourself uniquely in the market.

• Product research: The goal here is to ensure a good product-market fit. This includes observing how the audience perceives your product, whether there is a genuine need for it, its usefulness, potential upgrades, and related activities.

Why Is It A Stepping Stone To Success?

By now, you must have gathered why market research is so important. So let’s quickly go through its importance and benefits. 

• Forms a solid foundation for business planning and decision-making, ensuring a well-informed approach to achieving your goals.
• It helps determine the size of the market, its growth potential, and the feasibility of your business idea.
• It helps you gain insights into your target audience’s preferences, needs, and behaviors, allowing you to tailor your products and services accordingly.
• Reduces the risk of launching products or services that may not be well-received, saving time and resources.
• It helps you position your business effectively and gain a competitive advantage.
• Helps you determine optimal pricing for your products or services based on customer perceptions and market conditions.
• It enables you to develop targeted marketing campaigns that resonate with your audience, leading to higher conversion rates and customer engagement.

How We Do Market Research At StartInc?

We at StartInc aim to accelerate growth in businesses, one startup at a time. For this, we have a solid process in place. And it begins with understanding your story. Every startup and the story behind starting it is unique. Thus, our first step in the process is to understand your business and its ethos so we can uniquely position your brand. 

Next, we plan your path. This is where all our market research tactics enter the scene. We:

• Define the goal of the research.
• Identify the best combination of different market research techniques like interviewing and surveys.
• Mix them with information from secondary sources to thoroughly understand your market, competitors, market leaders, competitor pricing, and positioning. 

Next, we summarize and move on to execution, followed by review and optimisation. 

Here’s one of our case studies for you! 

• Brand name: Love Kaapi 
• Aim: To see how the target market will react to the brand in the market.
• Sample population: Focus group of 10 coffee drinkers and home brewers who love coffee 
• Our process: We invited these 10 participants for a 3-part experiment focusing on the most important simulations of the product – smell, touch, taste, and visual appeal.
  • Part 1 – We anonymously laid out 10 coffee powders, and the participants had to smell/ touch all and place bets on the top 3 coffees they would pay for.
  • Part 2 – We laid out 10 types of packaging options for existing coffee brands. Furthermore, we covered brand names for prejudice and placed bets on the top 3 coffees they would pay for purely based on the type of packaging (box or tin) and the information they were looking for.
  • Part 3 – We prepared all 5 love kaapi coffees and made the participants taste them all and compare what they picked based on the ideal type of coffee they drink and their preferences.

• Our Takeaways: 
  • Love Kaapi coffee was superior in smell, taste, and touch to instant coffee and the major commercial brands in the market currently. This helped affirm the brand launch.
  • The packaging experiment helped design the content, layout, and creative look of the brand’s packaging.
  • Thus, helping us make the product fit for the market. 

Market Research Tools That Are Truly A Blessing

Now that you have a solid understanding of market research, here are some of the best tools for market research that your startup can leverage! 

1. Think With Google Research Tools 

With Think With Google Research Tools, companies can access real-time data on consumer search behavior, consumer insights, market trends, and competitive analysis. Whether it’s understanding customer intent, identifying emerging trends, or optimizing marketing campaigns, these tools offer invaluable resources to drive success in today’s dynamic digital landscape.

2. Make My Persona

“Make My Persona” is a popular market research tool developed by HubSpot to help businesses create detailed and accurate buyer personas. The tool guides users through questions and prompts to ensure that the resulting buyer persona is well-rounded and reflects the actual customer base.

3. Tableau

Tableau is a powerful data visualization and business intelligence tool widely used to transform raw data into interactive and meaningful insights. With its user-friendly interface and drag-and-drop functionality, Tableau enables market researchers to easily analyze large datasets and identify key trends, patterns, and correlations. The tool’s interactive dashboards and charts allow for real-time exploration of data, facilitating quick decision-making and hypothesis testing.

See Ya! 

Believe it or not, market research is the ONE tool that every startup needs to invest in before getting started. It creates a foundation for everything that must follow, pushing all your actions and decisions in the right direction. 

StartInc’s well-planned market research strategy lets us drive your brand’s growth in the right direction and in the right market. Our innovative mix of methods with cutting-edge tools helps us infer information that may otherwise go unnoticed and set your startup up for failure instead of ACCELERATED GROWTH. 

So, what are you waiting for? Your partner in growth is here!