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Why use surveys?

Survey research methods.

• Conducting market research surveys
• Common mistakes with market research surveys?

The different types of survey methods

Survey tools for your survey method, what can businesses do with these types of surveys, how to write a research survey (free example templates), try qualtrics for free, types of market research surveys.

20 min read There are different types of survey research you can run, but the majority of research is conducted with just a handful of research survey methods. We explore what they are and how to use them.

What is a market research survey?

A market research survey is a way of getting feedback directly from the people who have the ultimate say in your organization’s success: your customers.

Unlike focus groups or interviews, market research surveys allow you to get detailed feedback at scale — from behaviors to overall experiences — and in a standardized format. Also, as the data is easy to process, you can quickly turn it into actionable insights .

Surveys are used to collect primary research, which means market research data that you collect yourself. The other type is secondary data, which is obtained from other sources, for example census data.

Surveys are among the most popular methods of primary market research, since they can be used to gather qualitative and quantitative research on market trends, and they can cover a huge range of respondents across your customer base. They’re also a format familiar to many people.

Get started with our free survey software

Surveys are ultimately about understanding your target audience, but they can go beyond your customer base. They can be taken by anyone — employees, potential future customers, and even those who don’t want to engage with your business (helping you to identify the ones that do).

However, a survey isn’t a stand-alone solution. It can work alongside other survey methods, such as focus groups, field studies, observation, and market analysis, to help you get a clear picture of your market and decide what direction to take.

But with all these different types of survey methods, and some being better than others in specific areas (e.g. data quality, collecting feedback), where should you start?

To get the best out of each survey research type, consider what you can invest in terms of:

• Time: How quickly do you need the survey research? Do you have time to conduct research?
• Money: Do you have the budget to invest in research overheads?
• Knowledge of analytics: Are you trained to interpret the collected data? If not, do you have a partner you can work with to get the insights you need?
• Research expertise: Do you have clearly defined problems or challenges that you want to explore or understand through surveys?
• Technology capability: Is your survey software up to the task of analyzing the data?
• Your audience’s response: Is it likely that your audience will respond? What survey types (online surveys, etc.) would they be most receptive to?
• Slow responses: Do you have a strategy in place to avoid low response rates?

Conducting market research surveys: best practices

Today’s market research industry is advancing rapidly, thanks in part to new technologies which make it easier to conduct market research, and offer more power and sophistication when it comes to analyzing your data.

Data-driven research is the standard across market research and other disciplines, and within the sector competition between brands is driving progress towards better and better market research tools. Beyond customer satisfaction, demographic questions and competitive analysis, today’s tools can dive deeper into your data, unearthing key drivers behind trends and even providing aggregated data on emotions and attitudes in customer feedback.

However, none of these technological advances can replace humans. To conduct market research successfully, you need to be able to combine tech with insight, intelligence and intuition, especially when you’re dealing directly with target customers, for example during a phone interview or when you’re approaching existing customers whose relationship to your brand needs to be maintained.

As we’ll see in this guide, market research can be used in a huge range of contexts, including brand tracking, customer experience research, employee experience programs, and of course product development. Whichever application you’re looking at, it’s essential to prepare thoroughly before sending out your surveys.

• Make sure your research question has been formulated and agreed by everyone involved in the project
• Develop a communications plan to maximize the chances of people engaging with your survey, including introductions, publicity, reminders and follow-up
• Consider using pre-testing before you fully launch your survey to thoroughly road-test it and iron out any issues
• Close the loop – after the study is complete and actions have been taken, let participations know how their contribution helped
• Consider a research panel for future surveys, either one you’ve built yourself or one managed by a third party provider

What are some common mistakes with market research surveys?

With the right survey tools and appropriate support from your survey platform provider, everything should go smoothly, even if you’re not an expert at doing your own market research. However, there are a few things to watch out for.

Choosing the wrong people to survey

Figuring out who you’re going to survey in the first place may seem like an obvious first step and not one you need to spend much time on. But in fact it’s possible to get it wrong, survey the wrong people and end up running a market research study with unreliable data. This is sometimes called ‘sample framing error’

Getting your sample size wrong

If your sample is too small, you run the risk of getting a sample group that doesn’t adequately reflect your target population. This can throw your entire market research survey off course. But if the sample is too large, you spend time and money on research that doesn’t add significant value. Have a look at our sample size calculator to help determine the right sample size for your market research surveys.

Using the wrong kinds of analysis

Do you know your conjoint analysis from your T-test? Understanding the basic types of statistical tests you can use to analyze market research survey data is essential if you’re not using a survey tool with built-in analytics. You’ll need to match the kind of data you’re collecting to the analysis method you choose in order to get accurate insights from your market research surveys.

Writing confusing survey questions

Survey questions aren’t like the questions we use in everyday speech, or even like the ones we ask in formal writing. They need to be highly specific, include appropriate context, and be free of any kind of descriptive or persuasive element that might introduce bias. For a primer on writing great market research survey questions, see our guide to great survey questions

You should choose your survey method based on your target audience, distribution capabilities, and the questions you want answered. For example, interviews are far more personal and explorative by nature, but they’re difficult and costly to scale. Online surveys, on the other hand, have far greater reach and much more affordable — but you lose the opportunity to connect with respondents. Let’s go through the different types and how you can use them.

Online surveys

Online surveys are accessible to any participant across the globe, providing they have an internet connection. You can create online surveys using survey platforms and distribute them via email using a link, or respondents can go directly to the online survey and complete it.

Paper surveys

Paper surveys (or written surveys) are printed surveys filled in by hand. This method works well if respondents have enough time (and incentive) to complete the survey, and the researcher is happy to manually collect the data before collating and interpreting the answers.

Mail surveys

Mail surveys provide exceptional geographical coverage as they can be printed off and sent via the post. However, as recipients need to return the surveys for counting, it’s recommended that you include a pre-paid returns envelope in the original envelope, otherwise you’ll have lower response rates.

Telephone surveys

Telephone surveys involve asking respondents a series of questions over the phone. It’s a popular survey method as it’s convenient for researchers and doesn’t require a lot of capital to do. However, researchers may need to invest time to set up interviews with participants and take notes during the process.

In-person interviews / face-to-face surveys

In-person interviews and face-to-face surveys are great opportunities to get more insightful and valuable responses from participants. You can quickly find out why they think and feel the way that they do, providing an unbiased view of a subject or issue. However, like telephone surveys, they require a lot of time to set up and gather data.

Panel surveys

Panel surveys use a pre-selected group of people as the sample, so that the research can be carried out quickly. It presents a happy medium between the speed and quality of research data.

Based on the type of survey method you choose, here are the types of tools you need and can use for each:

A good internet connection is required for participants to access online surveys, though mobile devices data plans mean that most people can connect to the internet easily.

A good survey software platform is needed to give you full functionality and flexibility, so your online surveys can be customized and optimized. However, businesses can get more for their money with a survey software system that does more for the company.

For example, the Qualtrics XM Platform™ is a best-of-breed experience operating system for experience management. It brings all your operational and experience data together from across the organization to help create and improve experiences for employees, customers, prospects and more. It automatically updates records, has an in-built analytics engine and can handle research projects, from start to finish, in a few clicks.

All you need are paper, ink, pens and clipboards — but due to environmental and sustainability concerns, particularly paper waste and ink pollution, you may want to opt for a more digitized solution.

For mail surveys, the resources and concerns are the same as with paper surveys — but the main difference is distribution.

Ultimately, you need a reliable postal service that can deliver to your target audience. It also becomes costly if you want to include international respondents.

As long as you have good connectivity and network coverage, telephone surveys are straightforward. That said, survey calls can last a long time, so if you plan to include international audiences, ensure you can afford the calling costs.

The only requirement for in-person interviews and face-to-face surveys is a venue to hold them in.

These require participants to be available at the time of the research. Traditionally, third-party generated research panels are available as a service to companies that don’t have access to the audiences they need.

The surveys we explored can be used for four purposes in any business:

1. Market surveys

These help you understand who’s out there, what they want, and how you can best meet their needs.

Market description surveys

Purpose: to determine the size and relative market share of the market. Such studies provide key information about market growth, competitive positioning, and tracking share of the market .

Market profiling / segmentation surveys

Purpose: to identify who the customers are , who they are not, and why they are or are not your customers. This is often a descriptive market segmentation and market share analysis.

Stage in the purchase process / tracking surveys

Where is the customer in the adoption process? This information shows Market Awareness – Knowledge – Intention – Trial – Purchase – Repurchase of the product.

2.   Customer experience surveys

This kind of survey helps you put yourself in the customer’s shoes and look at your business from their perspective.

Customer intention – purchase analysis surveys

Purpose: Directed at understanding the current customer. What motivates the customer to move from interest in the product to actual purchase? This is key to understanding customer conversion, commitment, and loyalty .

Customer attitudes and expectations surveys

Purpose: Used to direct advertising and improve customer conversion, commitment, and loyalty. Does the product meet customer expectations ? What attitudes have customers formed about the product and/or company?

Learn how you can set up and run customer attitudes and use surveys

Sales lead generation surveys

Purpose: Sales lead generation surveys are for

• assuring timely use and follow-up of sales leads
• qualifying sales leads (thereby saving valuable sales force time)
• providing more effective tracking of sales leads

Customer trust / loyalty / retention analysis surveys

Purpose: Especially helpful for high-priced consumer goods with a long decision and purchase processes (time from need recognition to purchase), this type of study explores the depth of consumer attitudes formed about the product and/or company.

Salesforce effectiveness surveys

Purpose: A combination of measures that focus on the sales activities, performance, and effectiveness in producing the desired and measurable effect or goal. Often measured as a 360-degree survey completed by the salesperson, the client (evaluating the sales call), and the supervisor responsible for evaluating the salesperson.

Customer service surveys

Purpose: Akin to customer satisfaction surveys, customer service surveys instead focus in detail on the actual customer service that was received, the process involved in receiving that service, and the evaluation of the participants in the service process.

Customer service representative (CSR) surveys

Purpose: CSRs often exhibit frustration, burnout, and high turnover . Surveys focus on CSR retention, reducing costs, and increasing the quality of customer relationships.

Attitudes, burnout, turnover, and retention: CSRs hold attitudes that reflect on their job-related activities including:

• the allocation of time
• solutions to customer needs
• how to improve their job
• best practices
• how well internal departments help customers

3. Product surveys

As part of product development, surveys help you find out what features, benefits and attributes appeal most to your customers, and how best to package your product, experience or service.

New product, service or experience concept analysis surveys

Purpose: Concept test studies are appropriate in the initial screening of new product concepts . Likes and dislikes about the concept and evaluation of acceptability and likelihood of purchase are especially useful measures.

Concept optimization, demand estimation, and cost analysis surveys (conjoint analysis)

Purpose: Determines an optimal bundle of features and benefits, and estimates associated demand. This kind of survey develops market share estimates of market potential for the alternative potential products.

Habits and practices, or attitude and usage surveys

Purpose: Directed at understanding usage situations, including how, when, and where the product is used. Habits and practices studies sometimes include a real or virtual pantry audit. Attitude and usage studies are used to understand consumer attitudes towards the product category and to life in general. They also look at product and brand usage, including how, when and where the product is used.

Product satisfaction surveys (attribute, features, promised benefits)

Purpose: Evaluation of the product’s promised bundle of benefits (both tangible and image). Are expectations created for the product by advertising, packaging , and the product appearance fulfilled by the product?

Competitive benchmarking surveys

Purpose: A “best practices” study of “how does the market view us relative to the competition?” Competitive positioning analyses often compare the attributes and benefits that make up the product using multidimensional scaling. These analyses also include an evaluation of key competitors, looking at the same KPIs and attributes as product satisfaction surveys.

Sales forecasting and market tracking surveys

Purpose: Sales forecasting and market tracking studies can include expert opinion (experts estimate the market), judgmental bootstrapping (expert-based rules describing how to use available secondary market information), conjoint analysis (estimation of consumer intentions based on product attributes that are important in the decision), and intentions evaluations (consumer self-reported intentions of future purchases).

Price setting surveys and elasticity of demand analysis

Purpose: Price surveys estimate the elasticity of demand and show optimal price points, including prices too low or too high. Price surveys may estimate the demand for different product or service segments, or different usage situations.

4. Brand surveys

A survey can help you understand how consumers perceive your brand and what values and ideas they associate with it. You can explore what value your brand has and whether people would choose you over competitors in your market niche.

Brand equity analysis surveys

Purpose: What is the psychological value that a brand holds in the marketplace? Brand equity is a composite of brand awareness , brand quality, brand associations, and brand loyalty measures.

Advertising value identification and analysis surveys

Purpose: Advertising value analysis focuses on mapping the hierarchical attributes, benefits, and values that are associated with and portrayed by an advertisement. Means-end analysis is often part of this type of study.

Advertising message effectiveness surveys (media and message)

Purpose: Message effectiveness testing identifies the impressions, feelings, and effectiveness in moving the respondent to a desired goal (increased awareness, more product information, trial, repeat purchase).

Once you know the right type of survey to run, the next step is to write a survey that your respondents will love to take!

Survey methods can be used to help collect data on real business issues and help you answer questions. Qualtrics supports customer surveys on every channel, at every journey stage to get you answers for more informed decisions.

We’ve put together a range of survey example templates that you can use for free to help you get started:

• Employee satisfaction survey template
• Employee exit survey template
• Customer satisfaction (CSAT) survey template
• Ad testing survey template
• Brand awareness survey template
• Product pricing survey template
• Product research survey template
• Employee engagement survey template
• Customer service survey template
• NPS survey template
• Product package testing survey template
• Product features prioritization survey template

In addition, for large-scale research studies, Qualtrics offers market research services to help with everything from questionnaire design and survey methods, to implementation and analysis.

Related resources

Post event survey questions 10 min read, best survey software 16 min read, close-ended questions 7 min read, survey vs questionnaire 12 min read, response bias 13 min read, double barreled question 11 min read, likert scales 14 min read, request demo.

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Marketing tips

How to conduct your own market research survey (with example)

After watching a few of those sketches, you can imagine why real-life focus groups tend to be pretty small. Even without any over-the-top personalities involved, it's easy for these groups to go off the rails.

So what happens when you want to collect market research at a larger scale? That's where the market research survey comes in. Market surveys allow you to get just as much valuable information as an in-person interview, without the burden of herding hundreds of rowdy Eagles fans through a product test.

Table of contents:

What is a market research survey?

Market surveys are what's known as "primary research"—that is, information that the researching company gathers firsthand. Secondary research consists of data that another organization gathered and published, which other researchers can then use for their own reports. Primary research is more expensive and time-intensive than secondary research, which is why you should only use market research surveys to obtain information that you can't get anywhere else. 

A market research survey can collect information on your target customers':

Experiences

Preferences, desires, and needs

Values and motivations

The types of information that can usually be found in a secondary source, and therefore aren't good candidates for a market survey, include your target customers':

Demographic data

Consumer spending data

Household size

Why conduct market research?

Here are some examples of how market research surveys can be used to fill a wide range of knowledge gaps for companies:

A B2B software company asks real users in its industry about Kanban board usage to help prioritize their project view change rollout.

A B2C software company asks its target demographic about their mobile browsing habits to help them find features to incorporate into their forthcoming mobile app.

A printing company asks its target demographic about fabric preferences to gauge interest in a premium material option for their apparel lines.

A wholesale food vendor surveys regional restaurant owners to find ideas for seasonal products to offer.

Primary vs. secondary market research

Market surveys are what's known as "primary research"—that is, information that the researching company gathers firsthand. Secondary research consists of data that another organization gathered and published, which other researchers can then use for their own reports. 

Primary research is more expensive and time-intensive than secondary research, which is why you should only use market research surveys to obtain information that you can't get anywhere else. 

If you've exhausted your secondary research options and still have unanswered questions, it's time to start thinking about conducting a market research survey.

6 types of market research survey

Depending on your goal, you'll need different types of market research. Here are six types of market research surveys.

1. Buyer persona research

A buyer persona research survey will help you learn more about things like demographics, household makeup, income and education levels, and lifestyle markers. The more you learn about your existing customers, the more specific you can get in targeting potential customers. You may find that there are more buyer personas within your user base than the ones that you've been targeting.

2. Sales funnel research

With a sales funnel research survey, you can learn about potential customers' main drivers at different stages of the sales funnel. You can also get feedback on how effective different sales strategies are. Use this survey to find out:

How close potential buyers are to making a purchase

What tools and experiences have been most effective in moving prospective customers closer to conversion

3. Customer loyalty research

The demographics of your most loyal customers

What tools are most effective in turning customers into advocates

What you can do to encourage more brand loyalty

4. Branding and marketing research

The Charmin focus group featured in that SNL sketch is an example of branding and marketing research, in which a company looks for feedback on a particular advertising angle to get a sense of whether it will be effective before the company spends money on running the ad at scale. Use this type of survey to find out:

Whether a new advertising angle will do well with existing customers

Whether a campaign will do well with a new customer segment you haven't targeted yet

What types of campaign angles do well with a particular demographic

5. New products or features research

What features they wish your product currently had

What they think of a particular product or feature idea

6. Competitor research

Whether your competitors have found success with a buyer persona you're not targeting

Information about buyers for a product that's similar to one you're thinking about launching

Feedback on what features your competitors' customers wish their version of a product had

How to write and conduct a market research survey

Once you've narrowed down your survey's objectives, you can move forward with designing and running your survey.

Step 1: Write your survey questions

A poorly worded survey, or a survey that uses the wrong question format, can render all of your data moot. If you write a question that results in most respondents answering "none of the above," you haven't learned much. 

Categorical questions

Also known as a nominal question, this question type provides numbers and percentages for easy visualization, like "35% said ABC." It works great for bar graphs and pie charts, but you can't take averages or test correlations with nominal-level data.

Multiple choice: Use this type of question if you need more nuance than a Yes/No answer gives. You can add as many answers as you want, and your respondents can pick only one answer to the question. 

Checkbox: Checkbox questions add the flexibility to select all the answers that apply. Add as many answers as you want, and respondents aren't limited to just one. 

Ordinal questions

This type of question requires survey-takers to pick from options presented in a specific order, like "income of $0-$25K, $26K-$40K, $41K+." Like nominal questions, ordinal questions elicit responses that allow you to analyze counts and percentages, though you can't calculate averages or assess correlations with ordinal-level data.

Dropdown: Responses to ordinal questions can be presented as a dropdown, from which survey-takers can only make one selection. You could use this question type to gather demographic data, like the respondent's country or state of residence. 

Ranking: This is a unique question type that allows respondents to arrange a list of answers in their preferred order, providing feedback on each option in the process. 

Interval/ratio questions

For precise data and advanced analysis, use interval or ratio questions. These can help you calculate more advanced analytics, like averages, test correlations, and run regression models. Interval questions commonly use scales of 1-5 or 1-7, like "Strongly disagree" to "Strongly agree." Ratio questions have a true zero and often ask for numerical inputs (like "How many cups of coffee do you drink per day? ____").

Ranking scale: A ranking scale presents answer choices along an ordered value-based sequence, either using numbers, a like/love scale, a never/always scale, or some other ratio interval. It gives more insight into people's thoughts than a Yes/No question. 

Matrix: Have a lot of interval questions to ask? You can put a number of questions in a list and use the same scale for all of them. It simplifies gathering data about a lot of similar items at once. 

Example : How much do you like the following: oranges, apples, grapes? Hate/Dislike/Ok/Like/Love

Textbox: A textbox question is needed for collecting direct feedback or personal data like names. There will be a blank space where the respondent can enter their answer to your question on their own. 

Step 2: Choose a survey platform

Most survey apps today look great on mobile, but be sure to preview your survey on your phone and computer, at least, to make sure it'll look good for all of your users.

If you have the budget, you can also purchase survey services from a larger research agency. 

Step 3: Run a test survey

Before you run your full survey, conduct a smaller test on 5%-10% of your target respondent pool size. This will allow you to work out any confusing wording or questions that result in unhelpful responses without spending the full cost of the survey. Look out for:

Survey rejection from the platform for prohibited topics

Joke or nonsense textbox answers that indicate the respondent didn't answer the survey in earnest

Multiple choice questions with an outsized percentage of "none of the above" or "N/A" responses

Step 4: Launch your survey

If your test survey comes back looking good, you're ready to launch the full thing! Make sure that you leave ample time for the survey to run—you'd be surprised at how long it takes to get a few thousand respondents. 

Even if you've run similar surveys in the past, leave more time than you need. Some surveys take longer than others for no clear reason, and you also want to build in time to conduct a comprehensive data analysis.

Step 5: Organize and interpret the data

Tips for running a market research survey.

You know the basics of how to conduct a market research survey, but here are some tips to enhance the quality of your data and the reliability of your findings.

Find the right audience: You could have meticulously crafted survey questions, but if you don't target the appropriate demographic or customer segment, it doesn't really matter. You need to collect responses from the people you're trying to understand. Targeted audiences you can send surveys to include your existing customers, current social media followers, newsletter subscribers, attendees at relevant industry events, and community members from online forums, discussion boards, or other online communities that cater to your target audience. 

Focus questions on a desired data type: As you conceptualize your survey, consider whether a qualitative or quantitative approach will better suit your research goals. Qualitative methods are best for exploring in-depth insights and underlying motivations, while quantitative methods are better for obtaining statistical data and measurable trends. For an outcome like "optimize our ice cream shop's menu offerings," you may want to find out which flavors of ice cream are most popular with teens. This would require a quantitative approach, for which you would use categorical questions that can help you rank potential flavors numerically.

Establish a timeline: Set a realistic timeline for your survey, from creation to distribution to data collection and analysis. You'll want to balance having your survey out long enough to generate a significant amount of responses but not so long that it loses relevance. That length can vary widely based on factors like type of survey, number of questions, audience size, time sensitivity, question format, and question length.

Market research survey campaign example

Let's say you own a market research company, and you want to use a survey to gain critical insights into your market. You prompt users to fill out your survey before they can access gated premium content.

Survey questions: 

1. What size is your business? 

<10 employees

11-50 employees

51-100 employees

101-200 employees

>200 employees

2. What industry type best describes your role?

3. On a scale of 1-4, how important would you say access to market data is?

1 - Not important

2 - Somewhat important

3 - Very important

4 - Critically important

4. On a scale of 1 (least important) to 5 (most important), rank how important these market data access factors are.

Accuracy of data

Attractive presentation of data

Cost of data access

Range of data presentation formats

Timeliness of data

5. True or false: your job relies on access to accurate, up-to-date market data.

Survey findings: 

63% of respondents represent businesses with over 100 employees, while only 8% represent businesses with under 10.

71% of respondents work in sales, marketing, or operations.

80% of respondents consider access to market data to be either very important or critically important.

"Timeliness of data" (38%) and "Accuracy of data" (32%) were most commonly ranked as the most important market data access factor.

86% of respondents claimed that their jobs rely on accessing accurate, up-to-date market data.

Insights and recommendations: Independent analysis of the survey indicates that a large percentage of users work in the sales, marketing, or operations fields of large companies, and these customers value timeliness and accuracy most. These findings can help you position future report offerings more effectively by highlighting key benefits that are important to customers that fit into related customer profiles. 

Market research survey example questions

Your individual questions will vary by your industry, market, and research goals, so don't expect a cut-and-paste survey to suit your needs. To help you get started, here are market research survey example questions to give you a sense of the format.

Yes/No: Have you purchased our product before?

Multiple choice: How many employees work at your company?

<10 / 10-20 / 21-50 / 51-100 / 101-250 / 250+

Checkbox: Which of the following features do you use in our app?

Push notifications / Dashboard / Profile customization / In-app chat

Dropdown: What's your household income? 

$0-$10K / $11-$35K / $36-$60K / $61K+

Ranking: Which social media platforms do you use the most? Rank in order, from most to least.

Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / LinkedIn / Reddit

Ranking scale: On a scale of 1-5, how would you rate our customer service? 

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5

Textbox: How many apps are installed on your phone? Enter a number: 

Market research survey question types

Good survey apps typically offer pre-designed templates as a starting point. But to give you a more visual sense of what these questions might look like, we've put together a document showcasing common market research survey question types.

Use automation to put survey results into action

Related reading:

This article was originally published in June 2015 by Stephanie Briggs. The most recent update, with contributions from Cecilia Gillen, was in September 2023.

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Amanda Pell

Amanda is a writer and content strategist who built her career writing on campaigns for brands like Nature Valley, Disney, and the NFL. When she's not knee-deep in research, you'll likely find her hiking with her dog or with her nose in a good book.

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Market Research Survey: The Complete Guide

This process involves gathering primary (self-conducted) and secondary (information already researched and made available) sources, to fully assess how a business will fare within a particular market and audience.

A market research survey is typically a source of primary information that businesses can use as part of their market research campaigns. It can also exist as a secondary source, in which case, its studies and results are published online or in a print publication.

This article will take a close look at the market research survey, so that you can use it to the optimum benefit for your business.

What Can you Achieve with Market Research?

A market research survey, as its name entails, is used for research purposes. Before we dive into all the aspects of this survey, it is apt to learn how you can use market research to your full advantage.

Market research is critical for a variety of purposes, including marketing , advertising , and branding campaigns. 

Aside from providing data-based support for these macro purposes, market research gains you invaluable insight into particular markets. For example, you may consider running a research campaign for the retail market . Market research will help you gather all the relevant information pertaining to this specific market.

Aside from retail, you can conduct market research in a number of verticals, including ecommerce , technology, real estate and many others.

There are plenty of other applications for market research. Here are some of the ways to use market research to your advantage:

• Observe data to prepare for challenges in advance
• Gauge the demand for your product or service
• Learn key market trends and staples
• Discover how your competitors are winning or losing
• Uncover your target market’s desires, preferences, aversions and thoughts

The final point is remarkably crucial for market research and for generally keeping your business afloat. And so, we’ll now dig deep into the market research survey, as this tool is especially useful for this purpose.

Defining a Market Research Survey

This tool is the most commonly used market research method — and for good reason. A market research survey allows you to gather data on your target market. Moreover, it allows businesses to do so by accessing any insights they need, as long as they form corresponding questions to their investigation.

Surveys have a far-reaching history, as they date back to ancient civilizations such as Greece and Rome. There was a surge in survey use in 1930s America, in which the government sought to understand the economic and social state of the nation.

Surveys have taken up a variety of forms, including analog forms, such as paper and mail-in formats . 

Telephone surveys were the medium of choice for survey research during the 1960s-90s. But, as technological advancements would have it, those have declined in usefulness as well.

In the present day, surveys are conducted online, particularly through the use of designated software platforms. This type of software has paved the way for easy access to primary research. 

Businesses can use online survey software and tools and to carry out all their survey research (save for creating the screener and questions). Many such tools available both allow you to build surveys along with deploying them. 

To reiterate, market research surveys are powerful tools, in that they empower businesses to ask any question they choose to better understand their market and consumer base. They also can offer key insights into competitors. 

The Components of a Market Research Survey

This tool contains two major components: the screener and the questionnaire . These form the bulk of the insights your primary research will gather.

There are also two auxiliary components to incorporate to make your survey research successful. These include the call-out (introduction) and the thank you message (conclusion).

Unlike the essential components, the need to use these will vary based on your survey deployment method and campaign. For example, an emailed survey won’t require a call-out, as the email itself serves this purpose.

A web or mobile survey, on the other hand, will need a call-out to get the attention of your respondents. 

Here is a break-down of each component, beginning with the essential elements:

• These conditions often deal with demographics, which is incredibly important, as you would need to first and foremost, survey your target market. The screener will ensure it is only your target market that takes part in the survey.
• The screener is often comprised of 2-3 questions.
• The questionnaire should ask all the necessary questions you need for a particular campaign or sub-campaign. Or, if used in a preliminary stage of your market research, they can deal with questions particularly designed to segment your target market.
• If respondents are contacted via email, the call-out is in the email’s body, inviting participants to take it, listing why it’s important, its length and what it’s used for.
• If the survey exists within a website (either as a banner, or button), the call-out is the clickable element itself (the button/banner to the survey). It too should explain the survey to respondents.
• If the survey is on a website/app, the call-out has to be visible and attractive enough for users to notice it and click on it.
• The survey often routes users to another page with a thank you message. 
• It’s important, as it lets participants know that their survey has in fact been submitted.

How to Create a Market Research Survey

Here are a few steps to take into consideration when starting on a market research survey project.

Step 1: Find a topic your business needs to learn more about.

This is particularly important if it is a topic that has little to no secondary sources. In this case, opting for a survey is the best way to learn more about it firsthand, from the people who matter most: your target market. Pay attention to any problems your business may experience, as surveys should help resolve them. 

Step 2: Consider the topic in regards to your target market

When you’ve narrowed down a problem or two, think about your target market. Do you know who constitutes it? If yes, tailor your survey topic into a subtopic that they’ll be most likely to respond to. For example, if your target market is middle-aged men who watch sports, consider whether your problem/topic will be relevant to them.

If you don’t know your target market, you should conduct some secondary research about it first, then perform market segmentation (surveys can help on this front too).

Step 3: Find the larger application of the survey campaign

Now that you’ve settled on a topic/problem and decided on whether it’s fitting for your target market, consider what the parent campaign of the survey would be. Let’s hypothetically say your topic is related to a product. Would a survey on that topic benefit a branding campaign like finding your next slogan? Would it be better suited to settle on a theme for an advertising campaign? 

Once you find the most appropriate application or macro campaign to house the survey, your market research will be organized and your survey will be better set up for success.

Step 4: Calculate your margin of error

A margin of error , in simple terms, is a measurement of how effective your survey will be. Expressed as a percentage, it measures the difference between survey results and the population value.

You need to measure this unit, as surveys represent a large group of people, but are made up of a much smaller group. Therefore, the larger the margin of error, the less accurate the opinions of the survey represent an entire population. 

Step 5: Create your survey(s)

Now that you’ve calculated the margin of error, start creating your campaign. Decide on how many surveys you would need, in regard to your margin of error and your market research needs. 

Start with a broader topic and get more specific in each question. Or, create multiple surveys focused on different but closely related subtopics to your main topic.

Send out your surveys through a trusted survey platform. 

Questions to Ask for Various Campaigns

The steps laid out above are part of a simple procedure in developing a market research survey. However, there is much more to these steps, especially that of creating the survey. 

Namely, you would need the correct set of questions, as they are the lifeblood of a survey. With so many different survey research campaigns and purposes, brainstorming questions can seem almost counterintuitive. 

To avoid information overload and any confusion that creating a survey may incite, review the below question examples. They are organized per campaign type, so you can discern which questions are most suitable for which corresponding research purpose.

Questions for Branding

Branding campaigns include efforts that build the identity of your business; this includes gathering data-backed ideas on logos, imagery, messaging and core themes surrounding your brand. You can use these when embarking on a new campaign, revamping an existing one or when you’re looking to change your brand’s reputation and style.

• Which of these brands do you know?
• What do you like most/least about this brand?
• Which idea is more important? (Use an idea behind setting up your brand’s image/style)
• Which images do you find the most inspiring? (To compare images you’ll use in your marketing/ definitive to your brand)
• What do you like about [brand]? (Can be open-ended)

Questions for Advertising

Using market research for advertising will help you obtain ideas for new advertising campaigns, testing already established campaign ideas and predicting the success of new ones.

• How would you rate the motivating power of this ad?
• Which of the following ads resonate the most with you?
• Do you remember this ad? (Name and image/video of a popular ad within your industry)
• How do you feel after watching this ad?
• What kind of use do you think this product/service produces?

Questions for Comparing Yourself with Competitors 

Studying your competitors is often associated with secondary research, but you can gain intelligence on this topic through your own survey research. The great thing about surveys is that you don’t have to focus on one competitor when managing these surveys.

• How often do you use this product/service?
• Which brand do you use for this product/service? (Include one open-ended answer).
• Which of the following products (same kind, different brand) do you find the most useful?
• What about [competitor product] would you like to see change?
• Which brand has improved your life? (Include one open-ended question).

Questions for Market Segmentation

This application is possibly the most challenging, as it involves understanding who your target market already is, then further segmenting it. We understand coming to terms with your target market first, before narrowing it any further down.

Here is how to segment your target market; you’ll notice that the questions are much more granular than the typical questions associated with each topic. (Ex: demographics typically ask for race, age, gender, income, etc).

• Demographic segmentation: Which of the following groups do you identify with most closely? (It can involve anything from music, to shopping habits, to lifestyle choices)
• Geographic segmentation: Which of the following areas do you typically spend time in to make physical purchases?
• Psychographic segmentation: How do you feel about retailers who test their products on animals?
• Behavioral segmentation: How often do you buy this kind of product?
• Sentimental segmentation: How do the following [practices, images, actions] make you feel?

Securing the Most Benefits Out of Your Market Research Survey

As we can deduce from this guide, the market research survey is a critical tool for market research . There is so much to discover about your industry, competitors and chiefly, your customers. But before making any hasty decisions, it is vital to peruse all your research documents, not just the primary research ones, such as surveys.

When you combine primary and secondary research sources, you’re setting up any business move for greater success. 

That’s because market research involves studying more than one source. It may appear daunting, but with the right tools, you can design better products, innovate on existing products, appeal to a wider audience and gain more revenue from your marketing efforts. 

Thus, pair your market research survey with other research means for a lucrative market research campaign. Knowledge truly is power. 

Frequently asked questions

What is a market research survey.

A market research survey is a survey used for conducting primary market research and is the most commonly used market research method. Market research surveys help you understand your target market, gathering data necessary to make informed decisions on content creation, product development, and more.

What are the components of a market research survey?

There are 4 major components in a market research survey. First, we have the callout to get digital visitors to participate in a survey. Next is the screener which determines who is eligible to take the survey based on their demographics information and answers to screening questions. Then, there is the questionnaire—-- this is the heart of the survey, containing a set of open-ended or closed-ended questions. Lastly, there’s the callout. This introduces the survey to respondents. Next, there’s the thank you message. This acts as the conclusion to the survey.

How can you create a market research survey?

Creating a market research survey starts with identifying the topics your business needs to learn more about. Next, you consider topics within the context of your target market and find the larger application of the survey campaign. Calculate your margin of error and then create your survey using online software.

What types of questions should you ask on your market research survey?

You can ask branding related questions to gather information on how your identity of your business is perceived. You can also ask questions that spark ideas for new advertising campaigns. To supplement your secondary research on competitors, ask questions about your business’s place in the industry. Questions can also be used for market segmentation. These are questions on demographic, geographic, psychographic, behavioral and sentimental topics.

How can you get the most benefits out of your market research survey?

You can get the most out of your market research survey by using the correct online survey platform-- one with specific audience targeting for real consumers, radius targeting and quality screening questions-- you’ll get relevant answers from the right audience.

Do you want to distribute your survey? Pollfish offers you access to millions of targeted consumers to get survey responses from $0.95 per complete. Launch your survey today.

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How to conduct a market survey that works

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Knowing your audience is the backbone of success whether you’re a small business or a household name. And to know your audience, you need to do some all-important market research. But what’s the best way to go about doing that? Well, the easy answer is to use our market research platform to get on-demand insights into your existing audience and your potential customers.

But, if you want to take the long route, you could conduct a good old fashioned market research survey yourself.

What is a market research survey?

We’re glad you asked. A market research survey is a way of gaining information, insights, and attributes about your target consumers, so you can better understand them and what makes them tick. These surveys are typically conducted by market research companies . More information means more knowledge, which leads to more understanding – helping drive more successful campaigns.

But market research surveys don’t just help you improve your targeting and create campaigns that have impact. They provide valuable insight into the feelings, attitudes, and preferences of your audience – guiding everything from concept testing and launching new products, to brand positioning and customer satisfaction.

But what does it really take to conduct a market survey that works? Let’s get into it.

1. Set a clear goal 2. Know who to survey 3. Get help from survey-savvy people 4. Figure out the best way to get answers 5. Focus on the execution 6. Understand analysis is the answer 7. Uncover the bigger picture

1. Set a clear goal

Start by setting a clear objective of what you want from your market research. This will be determined by your marketing goals. If you’re launching a new product, for example, you’ll want to know what the demand is, how aware people are of your existing products/brand, if they currently use a competitor, and how frequently they buy.

Be precise about the outcome you’re looking for so you can get the answers you need to nail your future marketing campaigns .

• Why are you doing the survey?
• What do you want to find out from your research?
• Is it for product improvements with an existing audience?
• Are you looking to launch a new product into the marketplace and therefore need to know if there’s sufficient demand?
• Are you looking to improve your customer experience?

Knowing what you want to find out will help you identify what information you need. And it’ll help you determine whether a qualitative or quantitative approach works best.

The aim is to find out what your customers are looking for and improve satisfaction with your brand. 

Uncovering consumer attitudes could reveal some invaluable insights that will guide your strategy with the customer at the heart.

2. Know who to survey

Market research starts with identifying which market you’re targeting. Who’s your audience? Are you looking at existing customers? Or are you looking to find out more about potential customers? 

Think back to your goal here. Keeping in mind what you’re looking to achieve from your market research can help guide who you survey. For example, if you want to build on your customer offering by introducing a priority service, you may just want to gather information from people living in a certain area or earning over a certain amount.

Use regional data to attain precise information about the target customer whose data you need, and narrow it down to support your ultimate goal. 

Determine key demographics of your target audience like where they live, their age, gender, or income bracket. You’ll also need to establish the market size of your target market in order to calculate your sample size.

3. Get help from some survey-savvy people

Who knows about surveys? We do. 

We teased this at the start, but turning to an existing, ongoing survey (or multiple) could save you a helluva lot of time – and money. So if you need a faster way to understand digital consumers, we give you an on-demand window into their worlds. All in a few quick clicks, in one reliable audience insights platform.

GWI data spans 53 markets and represents over 2 billion internet users, making it the world’s leading market survey on digital consumers. 

We provide a level of detail you can’t find elsewhere. Survey research is tricky. So why not leave it to the market research experts? And if you want something super bespoke for your business needs, our Custom research offering might be just the thing. 

4. Figure out the best way to get answers

Cast your mind back to steps 1 and 2. Thinking about who you’re looking to survey and what you’re looking to gain will help determine how you get those answers from the right target market. 

Knowing the difference between primary research and secondary research, as well as qualitative and quantitative, can go a long way to helping you figure out the best approach. 

For example, primary market research is where you gather data that hasn’t been collected before – it’s new, essentially. You can gather primary research via surveys or observations. On the other hand, secondary market research is where you gather data that’s already been collected or conducted before by other people. You can find secondary research in published reports or studies. 

Surveys can be carried out in a number of ways, no longer exclusive to telephone surveys and focus groups. The online survey is another option that allows you to take a step away from the time-consuming paper survey. You can also conduct market research in groups or on an individual basis. 

Once again, the optimum approach for your brand will depend on your goals and the information you’re trying to capture, as well as your target audience, market share potential, and overall preferences.

If you want to gather in-depth information from Gen Z , for example, you might want to head over to Instagram. With 28% of Gen Zs saying that Instagram is their favorite social media platform, you’re most likely to find them scrolling here where you can try out polls to get answers, and  ask follow-up questions that dig a little deeper.

Using quantitative panel data to back this up, market researchers can come away with powerful insights and market analysis they can trust.

 5. Focus on the execution

Once you’re clear about your goals, the data you want, the people you need to talk to, and the best way to gather your survey data, it’s important to maximize the sample size. 

This means reaching people at the right time, checking out where they’re likely to be, and setting a realistic timeframe for them to share their thoughts.

You’ve got to really keep your target audience in mind here. If you’re physically interacting with people, think about the places they’re likely to visit, and at what times they’ll be there. There’s no use setting up camp at the mall on a weekday if you’re looking to talk to corporate big fish.

If it’s an online survey, understanding which social media platforms or websites they are likely to hang out on, and at what times they tend to be online is vital to getting those survey form completion numbers to hit the high notes. 

Conducting some data analysis ahead of the survey can go a long way in helping make the survey easier to reach the right audiences. Take the guesswork out of your marketing research.

6. Analysis is the answer

Once you’ve gathered your market survey responses, they need to be analyzed thoroughly to pull out key trends and findings to allow you to gain some tasty, actionable insights from the data. So, what do you need to be looking at?

• Examine qualitative answers for stand-out quotes and detailed feedback about attitudes and behaviors
• Calculate averages from your quantitative answers
• Compare your results against global and local secondary market research

There are plenty of ways to cross-examine and analyze your market research data based on the type of data you’ve collected and what you’re looking for.

7. Uncover the bigger picture

Conducting a single market research survey is invaluable to brands, but when carried out in isolation, market research can lack real-world relevance.  

To get more from your analysis, large-scale market survey data allows you to compare your findings across multiple data points. You can cross-reference it with local subgroups and compare against global averages to clearly see where the value truly lies.

Use case: Identifying affluent consumer behaviors on social media

Here’s a hypothetical example. Let’s say you sell a luxury product. You’ve identified from your own survey results and analytics that social media is prominent in your customers’ lives. 

But you need more detail to target high-earners on the channels where they’re most active.

By using a deep data set to dig down into their activity on social media, you can uncover exactly where they spend their time:

Combining this with questions designed to reveal their motivations for using social media takes your understanding to the next level:

Here, 30% of affluent consumers follow/subscribe to companies and brands they purchase from, so we’re more inclined to say they can be targeted with a good social media strategy from brands to be enticed into buying from them. 

Uncovering insights like this is key to delivering a well-positioned message that sticks. 

Now, you can create a campaign specifically targeted to hit your ideal target market, where they hang out and in a way that speaks to their interests.

Market research surveys are pivotal to success

Market surveys can be used in a variety of ways to help a brand focus more on its target audience and take a more people-based approach.

You can use it to get a better understanding of the perceptions around your brand, test the appetite for a new product, and find customer demographics to accurately pitch an ad campaign. A marketing research survey enables you to gather information about your audience and help to build a buyer persona for each sector of your target audience for more personalized, effective marketing strategies.

Data holds the answers you need to achieve almost every business goal.

But data is powerless without effective analysis. And without effective analysis, no insights can be drawn. So it pays to have third-party survey data sets at your disposal to contextualize your findings. A skillfully-planned market survey that catches customer feedback and experience will deliver findings that could spell the difference between success and failure in a marketing strategy. Leveraging GWI’s data platform means getting clued up on your audience fast, and making decisions you can stand behind.

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Market research surveys: The complete guide

Your guide to create and distribute an excellent market research survey., 350+ free survey templates, customer surveys, human resources surveys, marketing surveys, industry surveys, community surveys, academic evaluation surveys, non-profit surveys, what is a market research survey.

Market research surveys are questionnaires that collect responses from a target audience of consumers. A brand uses market research to identify pain points, preferences, and interests of their customers.

A market research survey seeks to understand patterns in a given market. Researchers might segregate markets based on geography, age, gender, or other demographics. Brands can then use Trend analysis , Conjoint analysis , and Turf analysis to analyze their findings and help create actionable insights for their business.

Key attributes of successful marketing research surveys:

Survey research.

Survey research in marketing involves sending customers a questionnaire containing questions about your brand, products, and competitors. Your customers complete the questions according to their preferences. Most brands use online surveys for fast, accurate collection of data.

Send your survey research via email, SMS, QR Code, or other electronic platforms. Participants respond on the web for instant responses.

At QuestionPro, we also offer an offline survey app. The app allows users to capture survey research responses on a mobile or tablet device from anywhere. This is ideal in locations that do not have an internet connection or suffer from an unstable connection.

Good questions

The right survey questions are the most critical part of any market research. Attributes such as language, question type, and answer type help you customize your surveys to fit your needs. Easy-to-read questions that follow a flow receive higher response rates than jumbled, confusing ones.

Survey distribution methods

What’s the best distribution method for high response rates? Will email surveys or a physical mobile kiosk receive higher engagement?

Email surveys remain the most popular form of market research surveys. The popularity of tablet-based kiosks is rising for many B2C businesses as well. These stationary tablets capture live responses from customers at stores and business events.

Specialized survey portals, such as QuestionPro Communities, help generate qualitative research. Through these portals, customers answer less restrictive questions. More open-ended questions pass on more ideas to the company.

Survey analysis

You can’t do much with a bunch of survey responses alone – you need the power to analyze survey data. Online software makes it easy to create, distribute, and analyze surveys in one place.

QuestionPro features a complete set of analytics features:

Trend analysis

• Turf analysis

Gap analysis

Conjoint analysis

MaxDiff analysis

Text analysis

• Strategic analysis (SWOT analysis)

Survey report

A market research survey report showcases the conclusions of your analysis. Reports include current trends and projections of future customer trends and preferences. A good survey report provides company stakeholders with a complete thesis using the available data and analysis from the survey.

Reports streamline the survey result processing. An efficient report process opens the door to implement your findings. You’re able to dive into the innovation process to create products and services that directly help your customers.

Conducting market research surveys

Conducting a successful research survey requires thorough planning and structuring. Follow these tips:

Identify a research objective

Set clear objectives. Take the time to write questions that define your goals and resonate with your customers.

Identify your target audience

Answer two questions to help define your target audience:

Which geographic region does your research target?

What are the qualifying attributes of your ideal survey respondents?

This could include age, gender, household income, or other demographics that narrow your audience.

Create your survey

Survey creation is easy with online tools. Create and send in minutes using survey software. This will free up more time to collect responses and analyze your data.

QuestionPro offers a complete suite of survey creation options with over 350+ ready-made survey templates . Our advanced and standard survey question types allow you to customize surveys for specific demographics. Meet branding requirements with survey design customizations. Powerful logic and branching options help keep respondents engaged and lower drop-out rates.

Distribution, response collection and market analysis

Your survey distribution methods depend on the platform you choose. In QuestionPro, you can distribute custom online surveys through email, SMS, or QR code. We also offer the ability to collect responses offline using our mobile app.

QuestionPro Audience also allows you to purchase respondent data instantly.

Online survey platforms help you receive data in real-time and analyze it much faster. Manual survey input and analysis use Excel sheets. This takes additional time and effort, which reduces the cost-effectiveness of your market research survey.

Why should you conduct a market research surveys for your business?

Knowing the preferences and needs of your target customers is imperative to business success. Without this knowledge, you’re blindly putting out products and services with no idea how they’ll fare.

You need to collect information on the four “Ps” of your business:

P1 - Product

Market research should look at customer behavior and preferences regarding your products and services.

P2 - Placement

A good market research survey provides insights into the most profitable way to position their product in the market. Creative product placements give your business a competitive edge over the competition. Discover the ideal placements through custom market research surveys.

P3 - Pricing

Nothing dictates a product’s journey more than its price. How much are potential consumers willing to pay for a new feature? Will decreasing your product price give you a sales boost? Get the answers to these questions by asking customers.

P4 - Promotions

Use the first three “Ps” to determine the promotion of your products and services. Whether you choose organic or paid promotions, formulate your plan using insights from your research. Successful businesses always conduct thorough market analysis using research studies before making a major promotional push.

Research methods: qualitative and quantitative research

Qualitative market research.

A qualitative market research study focuses on collecting unstructured or semi-structured data from consumers. Information from qualitative research studies drives market insights.

Common methods of successful qualitative market research:

Focus groups

Focus group qualitative research involves getting a few people for a face-to-face discussion. Questions cover what-if scenarios around a specific product or subject of interest.

Platforms like Communities from QuestionPro reduce the need for in-person focus groups. Online portals allow for both data collection and market analysis.

On-call interviews

On-call interviews provide insights into the mind of business leaders or senior officials. This method allows the researcher to “open-up” the survey in the form of a regular conversation. The interview usually spans across several topics of interest.

Innovation research

Innovation research, also referred to as innovation games, seeks to use a group of consumers to generate innovative ideas. Platforms like Communities make it possible for businesses to conduct such qualitative research remotely and tap into global respondents. This allows organizations to get the best ideas from the best minds without the barrier of being physically present.

Advantages of qualitative market research :

Cost-effective

Qualitative research happens on a smaller scale than quantitative research. This reduces the expense to conduct a survey, as you’ll send it to a small group of people.

In-depth insights

The open nature of questions and the freedom for researchers to dive deeper promotes detailed insights.

Flexibility

Researchers enjoy the ability to identify sub-topics of interest as the conversation naturally progresses.

Answering the "Why"

Qualitative market research is a popular option when the objective of the research is to discover why customers do something. Politely pressing respondents to answer crucial questions shows you the reasons behind customer actions.

Quantitative market research

Quantitative market research surveys collect data through structured questionnaires. They use statistical analysis methods to derive meaningful and actionable insights.

Once conducted through pen and paper responses, today quantitative research makes use of advanced market research survey software platforms. Online platforms add additional value to the quality of surveys, responses and insight.

Attributes of quantitative marketing research surveys:

Survey questions

While survey questions may appear to be simplistic, but proper use can elicit the answers you want from customers. Single-select questions, multiple-choice questions, and rating scale questions give you options when creating your survey.

QuestionPro’s survey platform provides a vast range of survey question and question-types with market research survey examples. Varying question types encourage participants to continue through your survey. It’s easy to create your first survey with over 350+ ready-made survey templates available. Simply select, edit, and send!

Survey design

Survey design refers as much to the look of the survey as it does to logic and branching techniques. Good survey design makes questions more precise for the respondents. Add custom logos and brand attributes to create a cohesive, visually appealing questionnaire.

Survey distribution

Email surveys dominate online survey distribution channels. Offline surveys that use kiosks are becoming popular for point-of-sale response collection.

Send or schedule your email market research study with QuestionPro. Our advanced platform also allows you to distribute surveys through QR code, SMS, or embed it on your website.

Survey collection

Survey collection depends on the method of distribution. Survey software platforms make survey data collection easy and allow you to collect data in real-time.

Even better, QuestionPro enables you to track responses. Filter respondents by those who have not started, started but not finished, and those who finished the survey.

Survey analytics in quantitative research includes conjoint analysis , Turf analysis and SWOT analysis .Business and academic researchers often use quantitative research due to the simple application of analytics for data-oriented insights.

In QuestionPro’s market research survey software completes analytics in real-time.

Advantages of quantitative market research surveys:

Fully data-oriented decision making:

The precise nature of quantitative research leads to decision-making based on data.

Zero scope for analytical errors:

Enjoy zero errors with analysis from QuestionPro. By using powerful computing software, our program eliminates human error when analyzing survey data.

Concrete projections:

Projections from the concrete data of quantitative research methods mean you have data-backed insights for your business. Use these projections to accurately predict the spending habits and preferences of your customer base.

Statistical survey analysis techniques

TURF analysis

TURF stands for Total Unduplicated Reach and Frequency. Market analysis using TURF provides details on user frequency and marketing reach without any duplicates. This gives you a real estimate of market potential.

Conjoint analysis explores how different attributes of a given product or service range in importance to a customer. Online survey software makes Conjoint easier than ever before, allowing more businesses to put it to work.

MaxDiff analysis reads consumer preference across different attributes such as branding and advertising. MaxDiff analysis is similar to conjoint analysis, however, it is much simpler to implement.

Gap analysis measures actual performance vs. desired performance. Use gap analysis to determine how to move the needle to a more desirable position.

SWOT analysis

SWOT stands for Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats. A SWOT analysis takes a holistic view of an organization's key strengths and weaknesses from a business standpoint.

Trend analysis looks to collect data over time. It uses the data to identify plottable trends and relationships in the data changes. You can use this analysis to predict future trends.

Cross tabulation

Cross tabulation produces categorical data tabulation. Categorical data involves values that are mutually exclusive to each other.

Text analysis is a technique that researchers implement to arrange and bring structure to unorganized data. The process involves converting text from documents to computer-based language.

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18 Ways to Use Market Research Surveys

A market research survey is a tried and tested tool to help you uncover vital intel about consumer sentiment, something any business can benefit from.  In a perfect world, we’d know exactly what people want, think, and feel about our products and company all the time. Sadly, it’s neither feasible nor realistic. And that’s ok.

With the best products, messaging, and delivery, there’s always room for improvement. And even when you get it just right, market and consumer behaviors can shift at a moment’s notice.

Enter market research surveys – the most favored and widely used qualitative research tool there is right now.

What is a market research survey?

A market research survey is a qualitative research method used to gather feedback from a person or group. It provides vital insights that support strategic decisions , allowing organizations to analyze and understand consumer behavior or motivations in more detail. Responses are collected in various forms, such as paper, in-person, mailings, or online.

What information can a market research survey tell you?

Market research surveys collect feedback from individuals by using a range of questions to find out about things like:

• Experiences
• Characteristics
• Preferences
• Motivations
• Needs & Demands

What are the benefits of market research surveys?

Here’s the top five advantages of using online market research surveys:

• Quick to set-up
• Easy to create
• Immediate feedback
• Extensive reach

“As a business that provides market research survey tools, our mission is to help companies collect crucial information so they can understand the people’s opinions, behaviors, and knowledge of specific industries, products, and services. Data collected through market research surveys are essential for making decisions about product development, marketing strategies, and business operations.”

Market research survey uses and types in action

Market research surveys are both valuable and versatile . But many organizations fail to realize their true potential; and don’t always extract the maximum ROI. Here, I’m sharing 18 different ways to use online surveys.

1. Measure customer satisfaction

Market research surveys are an ideal way to measure and obtain feedback about customer satisfaction ; they’re often referred of CSAT (Customer Satisfaction) surveys, indicating what consumers like and dislike. They also allow organizations to keep track of their Net Promotor Score (NPS). Typically, these surveys ask questions to uncover insights about a service, product, or experience. Sending timely feedback surveys to help resolve issues before they become a problem , giving you the chance to transform a poor experience into a good one.

Here’s three examples of typical questions asked in customer service surveys:

• Please rate the service you received when you visited our store today – Availability of staff (1-5) – Staff knowledge (1-5) – Friendly and helpful attitude (1-5)
• Were you recommended any additional products or services? (yes/no)
• If we could improve one thing about your experience at our store today, what would it be? (open text)

2. Do opinion polling

A great way to gather mass consensus from a large group of people. Typically, they’re short and sweet, asking just 2-3 questions. It’s one of the fastest ways to establish public opinion on a chosen topic. There are three types of opinion poll surveys you can use. They are:

• Rating – Usually a sliding scale between 0-10.
• Multiple choice – This offers three to five- options to choose from (always include ‘other’ as one of these with a free text field to uncover insights you might not have considered).
• Free text – Useful, but a little prohibitive if used too much. It’s important to balance the use of this option with quick and easy ratings and checkbox formats.

Here are three examples of opinion polling survey questions:

• What is the main reason you are attending the event?
• Do you like the changes to the lunch menu?
• What would be your ideal work setup? Office, WFH, or Hybrid?

3. Conduct audience research

Also known as buyer persona surveys, use them to better understand who your customers are, their motivations, and demographics . The results allow you to develop better value propositions and create more informed marketing campaigns that convert better and drive revenue.

Here are a few examples of audience research survey questions:

• Which social sites do you look at most?
• How often do you check your emails?
• How much research would you do before making a buying decision?
• Which search engine do you use most?
• What information formats do you most engage with?
• What tools do you use most in your daily work?

4. Automate testimonials & reviews

Testimonials can build a boatload of authority and buyer confidence. 85% of people trust reviews from strangers as much as peers, making them one of the most valuable forms of content. Automate the process, sit back, and watch the feedback roll in. During set-up, use a mix of rating-based questions and open-text fields. Once collected, they’ll support brand awareness , boost credibility, and assist with other marketing-related activities.

5. Measure employee satisfaction

It’s no secret that happy employees are more engaged and productive . According to research, happiness makes us about 12% more productive . On the flip side, low morale or job dissatisfaction can harm an organization’s reputation, culture, and bottom line. Surveys are a low-cost, effective, and easy way to measure employee satisfaction . You can also use them as exit interview surveys, a must for any business of any size.

Pro Tip: To surface any drivers of employee dissatisfaction, people need to know they can be brutally honest and open with their responses; anonymity in the survey is the only way to achieve this.

6. Validate product development ideas

Online surveys are a great way to validate whether or not a new product idea is worthy of investment. It can help you quantify demand by asking direct questions about specific features or concepts you are considering. Within our own business, we review new products or feature ideas internally and then validate their impact and potential with customers in the same way. Simply put, a quick research survey can uncover vital intel that shapes the what, how, and when to enhance your offering.

7. Measure lead generation effectiveness

Research surveys can help determine the efficiency of your lead qualification process . In short, they can measure and track how well a sales team is doing and assess things like timeliness, follow-up activities, and more. The information helps organizations find new ways to improve the management of lead generation activities and take actions that directly impact conversions in the future.

8. Improve market segmentation

Market surveys for better understand customers can help you better understand customers and prospects. With this, you can separate customers into smaller groups based on interest, demographics , geography , usage, or brand preferences. This gives you the ability to do more targeted marketing and a clearer view of why people in a specific group have or haven’t done business with you.

Segmentation survey example: A spa owner could use segmentation to group clients based on their treatment type or specific brands or products they prefer. They’re then able to offer specific promotions that involve the cross-pollination of products and services. This is just a single example; the possibilities are endless.

9. Qualification of pricing models

Surveys help you qualify any initial work on pricing new products or services. They can provide a clear indication of price ranges to consider and in some cases, give insights that shape pricing models and strategies that better serve the needs of different groups in a market. For demand analysis, these surveys are designed to determine if prices are set too high or too low.

10. Choose the right create assets

Establishing what types of creative assets most appeal to a target audience saves time and money while increasing the potential for success . For example, suppose you’re considering a few different titles for a major email campaign or trying to decide between a physical billboard campaign vs. digital marketing. In that case, a targeted survey can give you a general inclination of what will or won’t work.

Even with a sample network to target, you can get valuable insights to help you prioritize resources.

11. User experience

User experience (UX) surveys are one of the most important things you can do when designing or improving a product or service. The key to success is crafting an unbiased UX survey that enables people to freely open up about their preferences and attitudes. The questions you ask will be largely determined by what you want to achieve. User experience surveys can take place live from within an app or on a website, but can be confused with usability testing; a method that evaluates how easy a product is to use by testing it with actual users.

Here’s a few tips to get you started:

• Ask the right questions:
• Avoid using closed questions (yes/no) as they’ll often not provide usable intel about a customer’s mindset
• Use task-driven questions like ‘can you tell me more about your experience using our mobile app to make your booking?’
• Ranking questions, like ‘how would you rate the ease of booking via our app?’
• Avoid leading questions to avoid bias, like ‘if you enjoyed this product, should we create more like it?’
• Keep your survey short, clear, and simple – no more than eight questions is ideal.

12. Conduct a competitive analysis

You can use market surveys to get a quick taste of consumer appetites for a rival’s product, marketing efforts, and pricing. Here, I’ve highlighted three areas, along with specific questions to gather telling feedback about your competitors.

Where a market survey delivers value is by asking focused questions about sentiment and perception. Questions like:

• Do you perceive company x’s products to be high-quality or low-cost vs. our own?
• Do you find x feature valuable or not?
• Would you be prepared to pay more for a new feature that does x, y, or z?

Here’s a few questions you can ask:

• Which channels do you prefer to interact through, phone, app, live chat, etc.?
• What made you decide to purchase with us vs. a competitor?
• Do competitors offer promotions that would compel you to buy from them over us?
• What would deter you from buying x product from a competitor?

Enables you to clearly see which assets people respond to most positively. Aside from using a rival’s website to see their latest marketing campaigns, look at social media too. Do your competitors have a mobile app?

• If so, then you need to download it and experience things from your customer’s perspective.
• If not, do a survey to find out whether there’s an appetite for this or not?

Pro Tip: Use market research surveys to show your target demographic a selection of marketing materials from different competitors; ask them which they prefer and why, but make sure you remove their branding to avoid bias.

Here’s a few good questions to ask:

• How does this ad make you feel?
• Would you be more or less likely to buy if you saw this?
• What perception of the company or product do you have after seeing this ad?

Using surveys for competitive market research is just one of the many methods of gaining market intelligence to stay informed and gain market share . Surveys take time, and you need to consider how you tap into audiences that are aware of your rival’s offering and your own. Here’s a link to an article with some competitive analysis examples to help you find other ways to do this.

13. Monitor and track brand perception

Good brand perception can do wonders for your business. If people believe in your brand, it can open doors to new partnerships, boost buyer confidence, and make launching products easier. Brand tracking surveys give you a low-cost, effective way to monitor and benchmark brand perception regularly. Run them quarterly to get trackable results, and use a sliding scale, allowing people to indicate whether they’re more or less interested in specific products, features, or services.

Pro Tip: Brand tracking surveys aren’t just for customers and prospects, but employees, partners, and other stakeholders. Make sure your distribution accounts for this.

14. Analyze purchase or intent analysis

The consumer decision-making process typically consists of five stages, sometimes more.

Taking time to understand purchase intent allows you to capitalize upon and generate future demand for products, uncovering key drivers behind consumer intent. As a result, you can build more effective campaigns based on genuine consumer patterns; and discover what drives consumers to move from interest to purchase.

Different types of questions can be used to measure purchase intent. Always consider the objectives of your survey first before selecting the questions you’re going to ask; the format of the question will directly determine the type of information you yield.

Scale survey questions

These are used to determine feelings and opinions. For instance, to determine the likelihood of a future purchase from a specific set of customers, you can present respondents with a statement like this.

Q. I will probably purchase a new walk-in shower in the next 12 months

• Strongly agree
• Neither agree, nor disagree
• Strongly disagree

Ranking questions

Enable you to understand a service or product’s popularity. These are used more so in the early stages of a purchasing journey and can tell you how you compare with competitors, and which products most appeal to certain groups of people.

Q. Rank the following walk-in shower brands in order of preference

Rating scale questions

Use a numerical scale (usually 0-10) that allows respondents to rate the likelihood they’ll choose your offering over a rival.

Multiple-choice questions

These are the most widely used survey question type because they’re quick and easy for people to answer. They can help you establish purchase timeframes, which ties into demand and sales projections. An example of this could be:

Q. When do you expect to buy a new walk-in shower?

• Within 3 months
• Within 6 months
• Within 12 months
• I have no plans to buy a walk-in shower in the near future

Feedback from a survey question like this means your sales division can turn its attention to prospects who indicate they’re likely to purchase in the near future.

15. Discover factors that impact customer loyalty

Customer loyalty surveys tell you ‘why’ people love you or leave you, providing a valued measurement for your NPS. Using surveys for loyalty purposes lets you translate raw data into actionable insights that shape future strategies, campaigns, and messaging.

Here are a few examples of questions to ask in a customer loyalty survey:

• How likely are you to continue using our services?
• On a scale of 0-5, how satisfied are you with our company?
• Do you deal with any other companies for a similar product or service?
• How do you rate the value we offer for the money you pay?

16. Do B2B market research

The global B2B eCommerce market is growing , so much so that it’s expected to reach over 25 trillion by 2028. Needless to say, having effective tools to help with B2B market research is key. Market research surveys are a quick and easy way to target a large group of people at a low cost.

Here are a few ways to use B2B market research surveys, with sample questions included:

• Demographical information – Who are your target customers? – What is your line of business? – How many employees does your company employ? – What is your position at the company?
• Need vs. demand data – Does your business ever buy x products? – Do you use any apps or tools to boost productivity? – Who is the person responsible for buying x products? – Where do you go if you’re looking to buy x?
• Buying pattern insights – What’s the most important feature when buying promo products for your customers? – What motivates you to spend more money buying from a new vendor? – What business issues motivate you to invest in new products or marketing campaigns?

17. Measure advertising effectiveness

Conversion and click-through rates are widely regarded as the best way to measure advertising effectiveness. The often-forgotten about survey tool is another way to test how strong or relevant your ads or messaging is. The results can give you deeper insights that help you shape future marketing efforts for better results.

Here, you’re looking to find out:

• How much an advert motivates people to purchase?
• Are they memorable?
• Did customers understand them?
• What do customers think or feel about a specific slogan or tagline?

Pro Tip: You can also use this type of survey to uncover how people think about your ads vs. those of your rivals.

18. Improve content marketing strategy

Online surveys are a lesser-known but highly valuable tool to enhance your content marketing strategy . Instead of simply crunching the regular performance metrics, develop a quick online survey to gauge feedback from your content VIPs (your audience). It gives you the chance to connect with your readers, show them you care , and ensure your content efforts exceed expectations.

The questions asked should address experiences, likes, dislikes, and preferences. Ask about their preferred content formats, and find out if they’d like to hear more or less about a theme or topic. Another easy way to do this is by adding a rating score at the bottom of an article that asked people if they found it useful, or not.

Read more: this article outlines 99 market research questions you should be asking, some are for you, others for your customers.

Best Online Market Research Survey Tools for 2022

We’ve all likely heard of names like SurveyMonkey, Typeform, and Qualaroo, either from personal experience or through marketing. One thing that surprised me was the sheer volume of tools for online surveys; far too many to list here (48 and still counting).

For now, here are nine of the best.

• SurveyMonkey
• Branded surveys
• Google forms

Wrapping Up

There’s no doubt that a well-constructed market research survey can be golden for your business. But, there are now more efficient ways to gain insights into most of the same things I’ve covered in this post. Similarweb Research Intelligence is a great example of this in action.

Features like website demographics, search keyword analysis , market analysis , audience interests, industry analysis , segment analysis, and competitive analysis are just a few relevant places where you can uncover instant insights to help you shape strategic decisions around marketing, growth, and product development.

Enjoy 360 Visibility 24/7

Get the data you need to adapt to market changes and industry trends in an instant.

Further Reading:

• Market Research Tips Straight From the Experts
• Get Growing with Small Business Market Research
• 7 Highly Successful Market Research Examples
• The Complete Guide to Desk Research
• Market Research Trends to Conquer 2022
• 64 Market Research Questions You Should Be Asking

How do you choose which type of market research survey to use? Answer these questions to determine the best type of survey to use:

• Size of the survey base – how many people are you likely to survey? (monthly/yearly)
• How many times will you conduct surveys? (monthly/yearly)
• What format will you use? (Online, telephone, in-person, paper)

What are the things to consider before doing a market research survey? Note down what you want to achieve, and consider the type of structure you will use to collect responses. For instance, surveys can be based on ratings, rankings, open text, or a mixture of all three. Another consideration is anonymity and whether you will offer an incentive to participants who take the survey.

Should you incentivize market research survey participants? If you’re surveying a niche market or niche audience , and their input is of high value, or you have a survey that’s more than 5-minutes to complete, you might want to offer an incentive to encourage a response. It’s now considered common practice to offer incentives via promotional codes, PayPal credits, or charitable donations to entice participation.

Can you automate market research surveys? Automating market research surveys is the best way to ensure relevant questions are asked at the right time. Specifically for surveys about customer satisfaction, testimonials, and reviews, these are very easy to automate and quick to set up.

Is a market research survey the same as market research? Market research surveys are a type of qualitative research, which is one type of market research method.

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Guide to market research surveys

Research Director

Market research surveys are powerful tools that help companies better understand current and potential customers. This information can be used to make business decisions based on facts and data —not flimsy gut feelings. But how, exactly, do you go about conducting market research surveys? We answer this question and more below.

What are market research surveys?

Market research surveys are a reliable means of gathering insight into the people that matter most: your target audience. Put more simply, surveys help market researchers get to know current and potential customers. And in some cases, like new product launches, can help to determine who your customers are.

The type of information extracted from these surveys varies. However, businesses typically use market research surveys to collect demographic data as well as data related to consumer desires, beliefs, and purchasing behaviour. For example, a company may develop a market research survey to evaluate brand awareness. Meanwhile, another company may design a market research survey to assess demand for a potential product.

It’s worth noting that market research surveys are an example of primary research. That means you are collecting information that hasn’t already been collected. Comparatively, secondary research involves using pre-existing data. For example, market researchers may reference census data.

Furthermore, it’s also important to note that the data collected through market research surveys is usually quantitative. This allows company executives to make quick, fact-based business decisions. For instance, information gleaned through a market research survey may show that customers in certain areas are willing to spend 50 percent more on a particular product. Companies can use this information to adjust pricing accordingly.

While online surveys are typically used to collect quantitative data, they can also be useful in collecting qualitative information as well. Market researchers achieve this by including open-ended questions that require panellists to type answers into a comment box. From there, market researchers can analyse the text manually or use text analysis tools.

Why use market research surveys?

Market research surveys provide a window into the consumer psyche, helping market researchers and end users better understand consumer wants, needs, and pain points. Companies can then use this information to develop products and services that resonate with the target market or better understand and respond to consumer concerns.

Simply put, market research surveys can boost the bottom line by helping businesses:

Research and analyse a target market

The primary goal of a market research survey is to gain insight into the people who are buying or who may buy your products or services. This insight may range from customer satisfaction to a consumer’s reaction to advertisements (i.e., ad testing).

Market research surveys often collect demographic data as well to enable deeper analysis among sub-groups of the population or your target market. For example, a questionnaire may request information regarding gender, location, and education level.

Measure brand awareness

When you live and breathe your company, it can be difficult to objectively assess what your target market thinks of your products and services. (Or, if your products and services are even on their radar.) That’s where a brand awareness survey comes into play.

A brand awareness survey seeks to evaluate consumers’ awareness of your brand, frequency of usage, and their perception of it compared to competitors. This information can be used to determine if your company is breaking through the noise or if more energy needs to be invested in marketing efforts.

Gain insight into current or future products

Is a product meeting customer needs? The best way to find out is to ask customers directly through an online product feedback survey. This questionnaire may ask questions like: ‘What changes would improve the product?’ and ‘What do you like most about products available from other brands?’

A similar type of survey can be conducted prior to releasing a product as well. These surveys help companies work out kinks or determine which features are most important to consumers before officially launching the product.

Types of market research surveys

Market research surveys can give companies the information needed to make key decisions, from adjusting or determining pricing to providing a new service. However, to collect meaningful data, market researchers must be sure to select the correct type of survey based on the target audience and the overarching research goal.

Online surveys

Online surveys (aka panel surveys ) are developed using survey platforms and then distributed to panellists (typically via email).

In recent years, online surveys have exploded in popularity, and with good reason. Thanks to the internet, market researchers can use this tool to reach consumers across the globe quickly. Even better, this survey method is relatively quick and affordable.

However, there are some downsides. Namely, online surveys are vulnerable to survey fraud—a phenomenon in which panellists or online bots offer disingenuous responses. Respondents may, for example, straight-line or speed through questions. Meanwhile, some scammers make a living by intentionally hacking surveys to collect economic incentives.

• Relatively low cost
• Global accessibility
• Real-time access to results
• Convenient for both panellists and researchers
• Quick execution
• Vulnerable to survey fraud
• Vulnerable to response bias
• Sampling is limited to respondents with internet access

In-person interviews

In-person interviews have long been a staple of market research. To conduct these interviews , participants must travel to a physical location. From there, a market researcher asks a series of questions that are answered verbally.

There are clear benefits of this survey method. In particular, a market researcher is present to answer and clarify any questions that the interviewee may have. In comparison, panellists completing online questionnaires may abandon the survey altogether if they become confused.

Nevertheless, in-person interviews are significantly more expensive and time-consuming. Participants may also feel less inclined to offer honest responses to potentially sensitive questions (e.g., ‘How many alcoholic beverages do you consume each week?’).

• Market researcher is available to offer clarification
• Moderators can take note of non-verbal cues
• Panellists can experience products in real life (in the case of product testing)
• Relatively higher cost
• More time-consuming
• Panellists are geographically limited

Telephone surveys

During a telephone survey, market researchers ask panellists a series of questions over the phone.

As with the in-person survey, the primary benefit of a telephone survey is that the moderator can offer further instruction and clarification if a respondent is confused by a particular question.

There are downsides, though. Chiefly, it can be difficult for market researchers to connect with panellists. Most people screen their calls and are hesitant to answer a phone number they don’t recognize. Additionally, questions that can be asked in an online survey to keep the respondent engaged typically do not translate over to phone interviews well. For example, an exercise where respondents are asked to rank a list of 10 items in order of importance is easier to complete when you can see all 10 items on your screen vs. a phone interviewer having to read them off to you.

• Wide geographic access
• Relatively cost-effective
• Market researcher available to answer questions
• Difficult to connect with panellists
• Questions must be simple and brief
• Panellists may be unwilling to share sensitive information

Mail surveys

With a mail survey, questionnaires are sent directly to panellists’ homes. The panellists then complete the surveys and mail them back to the company.

Though this method may seem antiquated, it allows market researchers to target segments of the population based on geography and reach people who are not part of online panels or are an underrepresented group. Panellists may also be more willing to offer honest answers in writing as opposed to online, in-person, or via phone.

However, there are some clear downsides. Namely, it can be difficult to motivate panellists to return the surveys via mail and there is no way to ensure that the sample that responds is representative. The process is also significantly slower than other methods, particularly online surveying.

• Lower administrative costs relative to in-person/telephone surveys
• Geographical segmentation is possible
• Panellists may offer more honest responses
• Time-consuming
• High nonresponse error
• Difficult and time consuming to process data

How to conduct market research surveys

If you want to gain insight into what makes your target consumers tick, then market research surveys are a must. But it’s important that these surveys be conducted properly, otherwise you risk wasting company time and money. A faulty survey could also sour a customer’s relationship with your company.

Fortunately, you can conduct market research surveys that yield high-quality data by following the six steps below.

Step 1: Set clear research objectives

Start the process by establishing a clear research goal. What do you hope to discover by conducting this research? Be sure to get specific here; the more granular, the better.

Examples of research objectives include:

• To better understand our customer journey, we aim to discover what triggers our five user segments to purchase Product X.
• To improve our spring marketing campaign, we want to assess brand awareness among consumers ages 18 to 25.

Knowing what you hope to discover will help you design an effective market research survey.

Step 2: Identify your audience

Before you can conduct a survey, you must determine who you will be surveying. In other words, you must identify your audience. Will you be targeting existing customers? Or are you hoping to collect information about prospective consumers?

If you’re struggling with this step, let your research objective act as a navigational compass. For example, let’s say your goal is to gauge customers’ willingness to purchase a product at a certain price point. With this in mind, you may target people who earn over a certain amount. Or, you may segment based on geography to determine how different areas respond to price changes.

Again, use your research goal as a guide. Then, work to determine the key demographics of your target audience.

Step 3: Create survey timelines

This step is rather straightforward but important nonetheless. Essentially, you want to answer questions like:

• When will the survey be sent to panellists?
• Will the survey be sent multiple times?
• When do you hope to collect all of the information?

Keep in mind that when you send surveys will affect the quality and quantity of data collected. If you choose to send a survey at midnight, for instance, it will likely have a lower response rate than a survey sent to panellists in the morning.

Step 4: Determine margins of error

In an ideal world, companies would survey every single consumer. But since this is unrealistic, market researchers instead survey a subsetof the total population. Ergo, the resulting data may not fully reflect the total population but our goal is to make it representative.

Exactly how much your sample data differs from “true data” that would be achieved if the total population were surveyed is called the margin of error. The larger the margin of error, the higher the uncertainty. As a market researcher, it’s up to you to determine how much uncertainty is acceptable. This value will help you determine an appropriate sample size.

Step 5: Send the survey

After designing the survey with respect to survey design best practices , it’s time to send it to your target audience.

As responses roll in, you must check the quality of your data . It’s also important that you set a total sample size for the number of responses collected. The value you land on will be determined by your margin of error.

Step 6: Analyse the data

Once responses have been collected, the last step is to use data analysis tools to answer your overarching research question. Collecting data that is representative of your consumer universe also allows you to analyze the data by different subgroups such as men vs. women or Millenials vs. Gen X. The information gleaned through this process will help you make data-driven decisions that serve your consumers and give your company a competitive edge.

As a leader in the realm of online survey design, Kantar is committed to helping brands develop questionnaires that yield meaningful, high-quality data. We do this by equipping market research partners with state-of-the-art programming tools and results-driven survey consultation. Our audience network is also the biggest and best source of real people who are who they say they are—not scammers or bots.

Want to know more? Speak to our award-winning survey design team to learn how we can help you design surveys that provide invaluable business insights.

Want more like this?

Read: 11 best practices for more effective survey designs  

Read: How to combat survey fraud  

Read: Your guide for writing open-ended questions for more thoughtful feedback

Boost Data Quality with Anti-Fraud Technology

Market Research Surveys: Sample Questions + Template

Sample Questions

• Creation Tips
• Types of Data
• Employee Feedback
• Creating the Survey
• Identity Protection
• Research Tools

Create your own survey using a MaxDiff question and more!

Definition: Market research surveys are a tool used to collect information about a target market. These surveys allow businesses to understand market needs and preferences.

Your company can offer better products or services by understanding your target market. Often, market research surveys will also include questions about competitors. Competitor data help paint the complete picture of your target market.

Depending on your goal, you want to include different question types in your survey. Here are three general categories of question types to include:

• Customer demographic questions
• Product/service questions
• Company/brand questions

Customer Demographic Questions

These questions will help you to understand  your audience  better. In addition, this data can be used to create market segments.

• What is your age range?
• What is your marital status?
• What is the highest level of education?
• What is your monthly income?
• Which of the following online retailers do you use most often?
• How many hours a week do you spend doing [task]?
• How did you find our company?

Product or Service Questions

When researching a product or service, you want to find out what attributes customers find most valuable in addition to a proper price point.  MaxDiff  will help you determine what is least and most important for this type of research, while  Gabor Granger  and  Van Westendorp  will help you find the optimal price points.

Important note: Don’t ask customers what they would pay for a product or service using an input box. The data will be unreliable. Instead, we recommend using a Gabor Granger question to determine optimal price; this question mimics real-world buying decisions where random price points are evaluated.

Asking about competitors is also essential when drafting product or service questions. Understanding the competition will help your own company build better offerings.

• Of the following features, which are LEAST and MOST important to you?
• Does this product help solve your problems?
• Is there any feature you wish a competitor offered?
• Was our product easy to use?
• How would you evaluate the following price points when purchasing this product?

Company/Brand Questions

When asking questions about your company or brand, the key focus should be on asking the Net Promoter Score question. This question asks, “How likely is it that you would recommend this company to a friend or colleague?” with options from 0 to 10. The overall score will range from -100 to 100 and can be benchmarked against other companies.

Some additional questions in this area could include the following

• Do you understand what our brand stands for?
• Of the following terms, which do you associate with our brand?
• When thinking of a new [product] to buy, which of the following brands first comes to mind?

Tips to Create a Great Market Research Survey

Create an objective:.

Once you get the data, what actions will you take with it? For example, do you want to research features or pricing? Whatever the objective is, make sure it is clear. This will ensure the right questions are asked to gather valuable data.

Determine How to Collect Responses:

Do you have a customer list or want general consumers’ opinions? We recommend using your own customers as a starting point for market research surveys. Then you can add in a targeted survey panel to grab more general consumer opinions.

Here is a  sample size calculator  to determine your needed sample size. This data will enable you to know how many responses you need to collect based on the overall population you are studying.

Use Crosstabulation:

To spot hidden trends and relationships, use  cross-tabulation . For example, you could create a cross-tabulation report for a MaxDiff question with gender. Then you can see what product each prefers features. This can be used for marketing or to decide what target market would be more profitable.

Keep Your Survey Short:

No one wants to be overwhelmed. A  study by Survicate  found that surveys with 1-3 questions had an 83% response rate. Use  skip logic  to hide irrelevant questions from users that do not meet specific criteria.

Offer Incentives:

Offer incentives! Offer respondents a discount if they take your survey. This will help drum up new business and ensure you can collect the data you need.

Why Use Market Research Surveys?

Research a target market:.

Your target market is the consumers who would find your product or service most helpful. So first, create a survey to discover opinions on a product or service and respondent demographics such as age, income level, or education level. You can segment your results from here and find out what characteristics make up your target market.

Market Segmentation:

Now that you know your general target market, a more specific group of those people is known as a segment. With the dealership example, maybe you realize consumers in your area and target market love Audi but hate BMW. Luxury cars and people of the same income level drive them, but this difference in product preference is a segment. Knowing this is key to offering the correct brands or prices.

Competitor Analysis:

Often called SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats), analyzing your competition is key to gaining market share. Go directly to consumers and ask about their opinions on competitors. Ask questions about what they do well or what you do well. Your survey results will help you identify opportunities for growth or ways your company needs to change to stay competitive.

Product Launches:

Does your product meet your customers’ needs? Sending an online product survey to customers will help you gain insights that drive improvements, consumer satisfaction, and ultimately, sales. When measuring the importance of product features, remember always to include a MaxDiff question.

Types of Market Research Data

Of course, surveys are only part of market research. You might be able to shorten your survey if you can collect data from other places first.

Primary Information (aka Field Research):

Primary market research is information YOU collect specific to your objective. This type of information is most often collected via surveys! For example, you might want to open up an arcade in a small town in the United States. You can send out a survey to a sample of the town’s residents to get demographic information and if they are willing to visit your arcade.

Secondary Information (aka Desk Research):

Secondary market research is information YOU DO NOT collect specific to your objective. This type of data is already available to you in public government databases, journals, publications, or even Google! For example, let’s say you were interested in starting your luxury car dealership. You could look at government census data for income levels for your target market before conducting your detailed research. Secondary information should help narrow down what preliminary information you need to collect.

ABOUT THE AUTOR

Allen is the founder of SurveyKing. A former CPA and government auditor, he understands how important quality data is in decision making. He continues to help SurveyKing accomplish their main goal: providing organizations around the world with low-cost high-quality feedback tools.

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Market Research: A How-To Guide and Template

Discover the different types of market research, how to conduct your own market research, and use a free template to help you along the way.

MARKET RESEARCH KIT

5 Research and Planning Templates + a Free Guide on How to Use Them in Your Market Research

Updated: 02/21/24

Published: 02/21/24

Today's consumers have a lot of power. As a business, you must have a deep understanding of who your buyers are and what influences their purchase decisions.

Enter: Market Research.

Whether you're new to market research or not, I created this guide to help you conduct a thorough study of your market, target audience, competition, and more. Let’s dive in.

Table of Contents

What is market research?

Primary vs. secondary research, types of market research, how to do market research, market research report template, market research examples.

Market research is the process of gathering information about your target market and customers to verify the success of a new product, help your team iterate on an existing product, or understand brand perception to ensure your team is effectively communicating your company's value effectively.

Market research can answer various questions about the state of an industry. But if you ask me, it's hardly a crystal ball that marketers can rely on for insights on their customers.

Market researchers investigate several areas of the market, and it can take weeks or even months to paint an accurate picture of the business landscape.

However, researching just one of those areas can make you more intuitive to who your buyers are and how to deliver value that no other business is offering them right now.

How? Consider these two things:

• Your competitors also have experienced individuals in the industry and a customer base. It‘s very possible that your immediate resources are, in many ways, equal to those of your competition’s immediate resources. Seeking a larger sample size for answers can provide a better edge.
• Your customers don't represent the attitudes of an entire market. They represent the attitudes of the part of the market that is already drawn to your brand.

The market research services market is growing rapidly, which signifies a strong interest in market research as we enter 2024. The market is expected to grow from roughly $75 billion in 2021 to $90.79 billion in 2025 .

Free Market Research Kit

• SWOT Analysis Template
• Survey Template
• Focus Group Template

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

Why do market research?

Market research allows you to meet your buyer where they are.

As our world becomes louder and demands more of our attention, this proves invaluable.

By understanding your buyer's problems, pain points, and desired solutions, you can aptly craft your product or service to naturally appeal to them.

Market research also provides insight into the following:

• Where your target audience and current customers conduct their product or service research
• Which of your competitors your target audience looks to for information, options, or purchases
• What's trending in your industry and in the eyes of your buyer
• Who makes up your market and what their challenges are
• What influences purchases and conversions among your target audience
• Consumer attitudes about a particular topic, pain, product, or brand
• Whether there‘s demand for the business initiatives you’re investing in
• Unaddressed or underserved customer needs that can be flipped into selling opportunity
• Attitudes about pricing for a particular product or service

Ultimately, market research allows you to get information from a larger sample size of your target audience, eliminating bias and assumptions so that you can get to the heart of consumer attitudes.

As a result, you can make better business decisions.

To give you an idea of how extensive market research can get , consider that it can either be qualitative or quantitative in nature — depending on the studies you conduct and what you're trying to learn about your industry.

Qualitative research is concerned with public opinion, and explores how the market feels about the products currently available in that market.

Quantitative research is concerned with data, and looks for relevant trends in the information that's gathered from public records.

That said, there are two main types of market research that your business can conduct to collect actionable information on your products: primary research and secondary research.

Primary Research

Primary research is the pursuit of first-hand information about your market and the customers within your market.

It's useful when segmenting your market and establishing your buyer personas.

Primary market research tends to fall into one of two buckets:

• Exploratory Primary Research: This kind of primary market research normally takes place as a first step — before any specific research has been performed — and may involve open-ended interviews or surveys with small numbers of people.
• Specific Primary Research: This type of research often follows exploratory research. In specific research, you take a smaller or more precise segment of your audience and ask questions aimed at solving a suspected problem.

Secondary Research

Secondary research is all the data and public records you have at your disposal to draw conclusions from (e.g. trend reports, market statistics, industry content, and sales data you already have on your business).

Secondary research is particularly useful for analyzing your competitors . The main buckets your secondary market research will fall into include:

• Public Sources: These sources are your first and most-accessible layer of material when conducting secondary market research. They're often free to find and review — like government statistics (e.g., from the U.S. Census Bureau ).
• Commercial Sources: These sources often come in the form of pay-to-access market reports, consisting of industry insight compiled by a research agency like Pew , Gartner , or Forrester .
• Internal Sources: This is the market data your organization already has like average revenue per sale, customer retention rates, and other historical data that can help you draw conclusions on buyer needs.
• Focus Groups
• Product/ Service Use Research
• Observation-Based Research
• Buyer Persona Research
• Market Segmentation Research
• Pricing Research
• Competitive Analysis Research
• Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty Research
• Brand Awareness Research
• Campaign Research

1. Interviews

Interviews allow for face-to-face discussions so you can allow for a natural flow of conversation. Your interviewees can answer questions about themselves to help you design your buyer personas and shape your entire marketing strategy.

2. Focus Groups

Focus groups provide you with a handful of carefully-selected people that can test out your product and provide feedback. This type of market research can give you ideas for product differentiation.

3. Product/Service Use Research

Product or service use research offers insight into how and why your audience uses your product or service. This type of market research also gives you an idea of the product or service's usability for your target audience.

4. Observation-Based Research

Observation-based research allows you to sit back and watch the ways in which your target audience members go about using your product or service, what works well in terms of UX , and which aspects of it could be improved.

5. Buyer Persona Research

Buyer persona research gives you a realistic look at who makes up your target audience, what their challenges are, why they want your product or service, and what they need from your business or brand.

6. Market Segmentation Research

Market segmentation research allows you to categorize your target audience into different groups (or segments) based on specific and defining characteristics. This way, you can determine effective ways to meet their needs.

7. Pricing Research

Pricing research helps you define your pricing strategy . It gives you an idea of what similar products or services in your market sell for and what your target audience is willing to pay.

8. Competitive Analysis

Competitive analyses give you a deep understanding of the competition in your market and industry. You can learn about what's doing well in your industry and how you can separate yourself from the competition .

9. Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty Research

Customer satisfaction and loyalty research gives you a look into how you can get current customers to return for more business and what will motivate them to do so (e.g., loyalty programs , rewards, remarkable customer service).

10. Brand Awareness Research

Brand awareness research tells you what your target audience knows about and recognizes from your brand. It tells you about the associations people make when they think about your business.

11. Campaign Research

Campaign research entails looking into your past campaigns and analyzing their success among your target audience and current customers. The goal is to use these learnings to inform future campaigns.

• Define your buyer persona.
• Identify a persona group to engage.
• Prepare research questions for your market research participants.
• List your primary competitors.
• Summarize your findings.

1. Define your buyer persona.

You have to understand who your customers are and how customers in your industry make buying decisions.

This is where your buyer personas come in handy. Buyer personas — sometimes referred to as marketing personas — are fictional, generalized representations of your ideal customers.

Use a free tool to create a buyer persona that your entire company can use to market, sell, and serve better.

Don't forget to share this post!

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Free Guide & Templates to Help Your Market Research

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Market Research Surveys – Types, Steps, Tips, & 20+ Questions

Sameer Bhatia

Founder and CEO - ProProfs

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Sameer Bhatia is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of ProProfs.com. He believes that software should make you happy and is driven to create a 100-year company that delivers delightfully ... Read more

Sameer Bhatia is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of ProProfs.com. He believes that software should make you happy and is driven to create a 100-year company that delivers delightfully smart software with awesome support. His favorite word is 'delight,' and he dislikes the term 'customer satisfaction,' as he believes that 'satisfaction' is a low bar and users must get nothing less than a delightful experience at ProProfs. Sameer holds a Masters in Computer Science from the University of Southern California (USC). He lives in Santa Monica with his wife & two daughters. Read less

Market Research Specialist

Emma David, a seasoned market research professional, specializes in employee engagement, survey administration, and data management. Her expertise in leveraging data for informed decisions has positively impacted several brands, enhancing their market position.

Are you tired of feeling like your business is constantly falling behind the competition? No matter what you do, you just can’t seem to catch up! As a business owner, it can be frustrating to watch your sales decline and not know what you’re doing wrong. The answer to this lies in a powerful tool that has helped many business owners stay ahead of the game — market research surveys. By conducting these surveys, you can make data-driven decisions to improve your products, services, and marketing strategies. In this guide, we’ll provide you with a quick overview of market research surveys, including what they are, why they’re important, how to conduct them, their purpose, types, benefits, actionable tips, and more. So, let’s dive in and explore how market analysis surveys can help you grow your business in 2023.

What Is a Market Research Survey?

A market research survey is a questionnaire designed to gather data from a specific group of people about their opinions and preferences related to a particular product, service, or industry. According to a Statista report, among all the quantitative methods used for market research, online surveys account for a major share of 89%.

Market research surveys differ from other types of surveys because they are specifically designed for a particular market or industry. They are typically more focused and targeted than general surveys. These surveys can provide valuable insights into customer preferences, behavior, and opinions. This information can then be used to improve products and services, develop more effective marketing strategies, and stay ahead of the competition.

Purpose of Market Research Surveys

Just like it takes extensive skills to be a winner in the playing field, similarly, you need deep insights to steer any new concept or product deftly enough to win the market.

Let’s explore a few reasons why businesses employ market research surveys:

1. Gather Actionable Insights

Conducting market research surveys can help businesses make data-driven decisions, improve their products and services, and develop more effective marketing strategies. These surveys provide businesses with objective data that can be used to make informed decisions. By gathering data directly from customers, businesses can better understand their needs and preferences.

2. Improve Product Quality

Imagine this: You are a software provider and find it challenging to understand the specific features, functionalities, and integrations that would best cater to your target customers’ needs. To ensure that you develop a product that truly meets their requirements, who better to provide valuable insights than your customers themselves? In a situation like this, a market research survey can get you the right data on customer preferences that you can use further to develop new products that better meet their needs.

3. Validate The Demand

The probability of your product failing amplifies when you are planning to launch a product and then trying to find potential buyers. Well, to keep such a situation at bay, validate the demand and profitability of your product before diving into the production/development process. Market research surveys could help you attain the desired customer, market, and competitor’s data to save both the cost and efforts that could end up wasted otherwise.

Read More: Product Market Fit: An Ultimate Guide

4. Make Products Cost-Effective

Budget often remains a potential concern for businesses while planning to launch a new product in the market. Hence, incorporating the survey for market research helps you avoid huge losses. Depending on other sources, such as focus group discussions, can limit the responses to a certain number of participants and usually requires massive budgets. On the other hand, the availability of Market Survey tools makes it more effective to garner advanced market insights while saving a lot of time and money.

5. Understand Competitor Products Better

What can you do to keep your customers from switching to your competitors? Well, the foremost is to offer a better deal after analyzing your competitors’ data. For example, if you are unaware of the competitive prices of a similar product, you might end up charging way more than the prevailing prices. In doing that, you will lose a large chunk of your potential market and eventually take your product toward failure.

Read More: What is the Purpose of Surveys & What Are Its Benefits ?

How Market Research Surveys Can Help Your Business

The scope for market research services is expanding rapidly, showing a significant interest in market research as we enter 2023. The global revenue of the market research industry exceeded 81 billion U.S. dollars in 2022 and has grown more than twofold since 2008.

If you want to stay ahead of the competition, it’s time to start investing in market research surveys. Here are some benefits of conducting these surveys:

• Understand your customers Market research surveys can help you understand your customers’ needs, preferences, and behaviors. This information can help you improve your products and services and tailor your marketing strategies to better meet your customers’ needs.
• Identify market trends Market research surveys can help you identify market trends and steer ahead of your peers. By understanding what’s popular and what’s not, you can adjust your products and services to cater to the changing needs of your target audience.
• Improve customer satisfaction Market research surveys can help you identify areas where your customers are dissatisfied and make improvements to increase customer satisfaction. This can lead to increased customer loyalty and retention.

• Optimize pricing strategies Market research surveys can help you determine the optimal price points for your products and services. By understanding what your customers are willing to pay, you can set prices that are competitive and profitable.
• Make informed business decisions By gathering data and insights through market research surveys, you can make informed business decisions. This can help you minimize risks and maximize opportunities for growth and success.

Here is a quick video on how to access recent activity reports for your surveys:

How to Conduct a Market Research Survey?

While jotting down all the factors to create market research surveys, it’s best to keep your business objectives in mind. This will help you craft relevant questions that can fetch detailed and accurate insights. 

It is also important to remember that there’s no such thing as the ‘best market research survey questions’ because it is a widely subjective industry with different demands and requirements. 

Market research surveys could cover a wide range of topics to effectively gauge deep market insights, and because of the nature of your queries and business goals, the types of questions included in a survey will also differ. 

Follow through this section to discover some of the best ways to nail your market research efforts via effective surveys:

1. Determine the target audience & sample size:

Before creating a survey, determine who your target audience is and how many people you need to survey to get accurate insights. 

For example, if you’re conducting a survey about a new product, your target audience would be potential customers. Also, ensure that your sample size is large enough because a small survey pool is prone to doling out skewed results.

Read More: How to Find Survey Participants & Respondents

Here are some examples of market research goals stated as examples:

• What other products are similar to our brand?
• Who are our top competitors?
• What do customers like most about a competitor’s new product/service?
• What made people choose another company over ours?

2. Develop a set of survey questions that are clear, concise, and unbiased

The survey questions should be designed to collect the information that is relevant to your research objectives. It’s important to use clear and concise language to avoid confusion or misinterpretation. Avoid using leading questions or questions that are biased towards a certain answer. For example, asking a double-barreled question like “How important is it for the product to be fast and user-friendly?” will not get you separate insights on how users prefer user-friendliness or fast products. Here, asking the questions separately could get you more precise data than otherwise.

Read More: Survey Question: 250+Examples, Types & Best Practice

3. Distribute the surveys & collect responses

Once the survey is created, it’s time to distribute it to the target audience. There are several ways to distribute a survey, such as via email, social media, direct links, or embedding it on your website. It’s important to choose the appropriate distribution method that is most convenient for the target audience. As the survey is distributed, responses will start to come in. Keep track of the responses and ensure that all responses are recorded accurately. You can use ProProfs Survey Maker to automate this process, as the app has a feature to collect and analyze the responses in its built-in dashboard without requiring manual handling.

4. Incentivize participation to increase response rates

Offering an incentive, such as a discount or a chance to win a prize, can increase survey participation rates. However, it should also be noted that perks such as monetary incentives could skew the results by making them speak only positively about your brand – resulting in erroneous data. Go for an incentive that offers a free initial subscription to a premium product or service, urging the respondents to be glued to your brand for long periods rather than walking away after collecting discount coupons.

5. Ask relevant questions & follow up regularly

Ensure the survey questions are focused on gathering data that is relevant to the business’s goals. This helps increase the probability that the insights gained are actionable. As the next step, test the survey with a small group of people to help to identify any issues with the survey questions or the survey platform. Amidst all this, don’t forget to follow up with your targets regularly. Following up is the gesture to gently remind people who might have missed completing your survey in their busy lives. Once you are in the middle of your first phase, consider sending follow-ups to the participants who haven’t completed their surveys yet. Also, if you aren’t already offering incentives, include them with follow-ups to ensure better response rates.

Read More: Proven Tips to Avoid Leading and Loaded Questions in Your Survey

Types of Market Research Surveys

Considering the plausible benefits associated with market research surveys, professionals across the globe leverage several ways to garner market insights for their upcoming products. Let’s discuss some common ways:

1. Brand Awareness Survey

Have you ever wondered how well-known your brand is among your target audience? Conduct a brand awareness survey to find it out! This type of survey is designed to measure how familiar your target audience is with your brand and how well they recognize it.

Brand awareness surveys can be helpful in several ways. Firstly, it can help you identify any gaps in your brand awareness strategy. For example, if your target audience is not familiar with your brand, you may need to focus on increasing visibility through marketing campaigns or social media. Secondly, it can help benchmark your performance against your competitors. This lets you understand how your brand is perceived in the market and scope out areas for improvement. When designing a brand awareness survey, it’s important to ask questions that measure both aided and unaided brand awareness.

• Aided awareness refers to how well your target audience recognizes your brand when they are given a prompt, such as a logo or a tagline.
• Unaided awareness refers to how well your target audience recognizes your brand without any prompts. It’s important to ask both types of questions to get a complete picture of your brand awareness.

In addition, you can ask questions about your brand’s reputation and attributes. This can help you understand how your brand is perceived by your target audience and identify areas for improvement. The business insights gleaned from such surveys are used to gauge and improve purchase decisions among both existing and potential customers. For example, you can use these questions to make the most out of your brand awareness surveys:

• What is the first brand you think of to purchase an XYZ product? (Characters remaining 100)
• What aspects can we improve on our existing product? (Characters remaining 500)
• What words come to mind when you think of our brand? (Characters remaining 100)
• How would you describe our brand to a friend? (Characters remaining 100)

2. Customer Satisfaction Surveys

A Customer Satisfaction Survey measures how satisfied customers are with their experience of a particular product or service. It’s a great way to get feedback from customers and understand how well your business is meeting their needs and expectations.

The main goal of a Customer Satisfaction Survey is to identify areas where your business is doing well and areas where it can improve. By measuring satisfaction and gathering feedback, businesses can identify areas for improvement and develop effective strategies to enhance the customer experience. This can lead to increased customer loyalty, better word-of-mouth marketing, and, ultimately, more business.

But what makes a good Customer Satisfaction Survey?

Well, it’s important to ask questions that are clear, concise, and unbiased. You want to get honest feedback from your customers, so it’s important to avoid leading questions or questions that are too general. Also, make sure that the survey is easy to complete and not too time-consuming.

Read More: 15 Best Online Survey Tools & Software in 2022

3. Product Feedback Surveys

Needless to say, a lot of products exist that offer exactly the same features and cater to the similar needs of the people just as your own products. If you want to know how you are faring against your competitors, a Product Feedback survey is your best bet.

Product Feedback surveys aim to understand how customers use your products or services, what they like about them, and what they don’t like. This can help businesses make informed decisions about product development, marketing, and customer service. By listening to customer feedback, businesses can improve their products or services and create a better customer experience. Product feedback surveys also provide you with a data-centric understanding of your existing products. This will not only help you with your new product launch but also let your customers test out your existing products to understand what’s best about them and what could be improved.

Read More: Product Feedback Surveys: Questions, Examples & Types

4. Market Segmentation Surveys

Market Segmentation Surveys are a type of survey that helps businesses divide their target market into smaller groups based on specific characteristics, such as demographics, interests, or behaviors.

It’s a great way to understand the different segments of your target audience and tailor your marketing campaigns to each group based on their unique needs and preferences. This can help your brand develop effective marketing strategies that resonate with each group and drive more sales.

To make your survey stand out, you should:

• Clearly define the specific characteristics you want to measure. This will help you tailor your questions to gather the most relevant information.
• Avoid using complex language or industry jargon that may confuse respondents. Use concise and easy-to-understand questions instead to get the data that you can actually use.
• Take the time to analyze your survey results and identify the different segments within your target audience. Use this information to tailor your marketing campaigns to each group and improve your overall business strategy.

5. Concept Testing Surveys

If you are a business owner considering launching a new product or service, you might want to consider using concept testing surveys to evaluate your ideas before launching them! Concept testing surveys allow you to gather feedback from potential customers on your product or service concept. Using these, you can identify potential issues or areas for improvement before investing in the development and launch of a new product or service. This feedback considerably reduces the risk of a new launch failing simply because it doesn’t resonate with your target audience. Additionally, these surveys can help you figure out the shortcomings in your existing products. By gathering feedback on specific features or benefits, you can make changes to better meet the needs of your target audience.

They are usually conducted online or through phone interviews, where the respondents are asked to provide feedback on the features, benefits, and overall appeal of your product or service.

6. Advertising Effectiveness Surveys

As important as launching business campaigns are, it is equally important to gauge how effective they are in achieving their goals, lest your budget is squandered for nothing.

That’s where advertising effectiveness surveys come in. These surveys are designed to measure how well your advertising is working and how it’s impacting your target audience.

They typically gather feedback on your advertising, such as-

• How memorable it is
• How persuasive it is
• Whether it’s driving them to take action, etc.

These surveys get you in-depth feedback on how well your ad strategies are resonating with your target audience, which, in turn, can help you make informed decisions about how to improve your advertising campaigns and make them more effective.

Additionally, you can identify which advertising channels are working best for your business. For example, you might find that your social media advertising is more effective than print advertising. This will help you allocate your advertising budget more effectively and get the most out of your campaigns.

7. Pricing Research Surveys

As one of the most important types of market research surveys out there, these surveys are all about determining the right price for your product or service. Pricing Research surveys might ask questions like, “How much would you be willing to pay for this product?” or “Do you think this product is too expensive?” to gain valuable insights into how your target audience perceives the value of your product or service.

This feedback can help you make informed decisions about how to maximize sales and profitability. Additionally, Pricing Research surveys can help you identify which pricing strategies are most effective for your business. For example, you might find that offering a discount or bundling your product with another product is more effective than simply lowering the price.

7 Tips for Creating Effective Market Research Surveys

With so many factors to consider, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and end up with a survey that doesn’t provide the insights you need. But fear not! With these tips and tricks, you can create a market research survey that not only provides valuable insights but also engages your target audience.

1. Define your research objectives:

Before creating a survey, it’s important to define your research objectives. What do you want to learn from the survey? What decisions will you make based on the results? Having clear research objectives will help you create a focused and effective survey.

2. Keep it short and simple:

People are more likely to complete a survey if it’s short and easy to understand. Keep your survey concise, and avoid using technical jargon or complex language.

3. Eliminate survey bias:

Make sure your survey is free of various forms of bias, such as-

• Sampling bias
• Acceptance and dissent bias
• Question order bias
• Personal bias

4. Use clear and specific questions:

Your survey questions should be clear and specific to avoid confusion or misinterpretation. Avoid asking leading questions or questions that are too general.

5. Use a mix of question types:

Using a mix of question types, such as multiple-choice, open-ended, and rating scales, can provide more comprehensive insights into your target audience.

Read More: Different Question Types for Surveys and What They Mean

6. Test your survey:

Before distributing your survey to your target audience, test it with a small group of people to ensure it’s effective and easy to understand.

7. Consider the timing and distribution method:

Timing and distribution methods can impact response rates. Consider the best time to distribute the survey and the most effective distribution method for your target audience.

Read More: How to Fix Survey Problems: Your Ultimate Guide

20+ Market Research Questions for Your Survey Campaigns

Given are some sample market research questions for your survey campaigns, categorized by survey type. Concept Testing Surveys:

• How appealing is the concept of our new product/service?
• Which features of our product/service are most appealing to you?
• How likely are you to purchase our product/service?
• What do you think is the main benefit of our product/service?
• How does our product/service compare to our competitors’ offerings?

Brand Awareness Surveys:

• Have you heard of our brand before?
• What do you know about our brand?
• How likely are you to recommend our brand to a friend?
• What comes to mind when you think of our brand?
• How likely are you to purchase from our brand in the future?

Customer Satisfaction Surveys:

• How satisfied are you with our product/service?
• How likely are you to purchase from us again?
• How responsive is our customer service team?
• How easy is it to use our product/service?
• How well does our product/service meet your needs?

Market Segmentation Surveys:

• What is your age?
• What is your gender?
• What is your income level?
• What is your occupation?
• What is your educational background?

Pricing Research Surveys:

• How much would you be willing to pay for our product/service?
• How does the price of our product/service compare to our competitors’ offerings?
• What pricing strategy would be most appealing to you?
• How does the price of our product/service impact your purchase decision?
• What is the maximum amount you would be willing to pay for our product/service?

Remember, these are just sample questions. You should tailor your survey questions to your specific business needs and target audience. By asking the right questions, you will be able to uncover precious data that will drive well-informed decisions for your business!

Create a Strong Market Research Survey Regime to Dominate Your Field

Have you ever wondered what your customers really want? What sets you apart from your competitors? What are the latest trends in your industry? These are the questions that market research surveys can answer for you. But, designing a survey that yields accurate and reliable data can be challenging. That’s why it’s essential to ensure that your survey is well-structured, relevant, and easy to understand. Once you’ve collected the data, it’s equally important to analyze it thoroughly and use the insights gained to make informed decisions. As Peter Drucker famously said, “What gets measured, gets managed.” market research surveys are a powerful tool for businesses of all sizes to achieve their goals and stay ahead of the competition. So, don’t wait any longer. Start your survey today with a modern market research solution such as ProProfs Survey Maker and take your business to new heights!

About the author

Emma David is a seasoned market research professional with 8+ years of experience. Having kick-started her journey in research, she has developed rich expertise in employee engagement, survey creation and administration, and data management. Emma believes in the power of data to shape business performance positively. She continues to help brands and businesses make strategic decisions and improve their market standing through her understanding of research methodologies.

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12 Useful Marketing Surveys: Types, Questions & Tools

Marketing surveys let you understand brand perception, analyze customer sentiment , and identify improvement areas.

But what kind of surveys should you be sending, and how do you frame your questions to elicit the right answers from respondents?

It can be a tough nut to crack sometimes, but we’ve made it easier in this article. Read on to find 12 important survey types and sample questions to ask. We’ll also show you tools that will simplify everything.

• A marketing survey uses well-crafted questionnaires to gather information about your target audience and their sentiment on your company and competitors.
• Conduct market research because it helps you to: understand the needs and expectations of your user personas , enhance your product and features, stay ahead of the competition, and make changes to your marketing strategy if needed.
• There are 12 types of marketing surveys you could use for research:
• User persona survey
• Market research survey
• Brand awareness survey
• Competitor research survey
• Product research survey
• Feature research survey
• Product-market fit (PMF) survey
• Net Promoter Score survey (NPS)
• Customer satisfaction survey (CSAT)
• Customer effort score (CES) survey
• Content evaluation survey
• Exit surveys

Best tools for creating market surveys:

• Userpilot – best for creating and deploying short in-app surveys. Book a demo to learn more.
• Typeform – best for long-form market research surveys.

What are marketing surveys?

Marketing surveys are a method of soliciting customer feedback and collecting market research data using a questionnaire.

Why should you be conducting market research?

Marketing surveys come with multiple benefits. Here are some things you stand to gain:

• Understand the needs and expectations of your user personas: Through market research , you’ll learn the general needs of your target market and try to weigh them against what you currently offer.
• Enhance your product and features: Market research can help you collect new feature ideas and also validate your existing product ideas. For example, you can release a survey asking customers and potential customers what they think about a specific feature. If a good percentage of them responded positively, then that’s a sign the market needs it.
• Stay ahead of the competition: By gathering opinions about your top competitors, you’ll uncover gaps you could fill to make your current customers happy and attract more users.
• Make changes to your marketing strategy if needed: Through marketing surveys, you’ll uncover the demographics within your target customers and learn more about their needs. With this information, you can adjust your messaging , campaign channels, pricing , and other elements of your strategy.

Different types of marketing surveys for qualitative and quantitative research

By now, you may be wondering how to conduct marketing surveys and begin reaping the benefits listed above. This section shows you various survey types and how to approach them correctly.

1. User persona survey

Persona surveys help you identify the needs, pain points , jobs to be done , and behaviors of target users and break them into segments based on shared traits.

Moreover, you can use the insights generated to create user-centric products, tailor your marketing campaigns, and also personalize the product experience for each persona.

An effective way to collect user persona data is to send your surveys to new sign-ups as part of your welcome flow . Examples of questions to ask in user persona surveys:

• What will you be using {product name} for?
• How large is your company?
• What is your job title?
• Mention some significant obstacles you face in your professional life
• What do you want to achieve with [software]?

2. Market research survey

Market research surveys let you collect and analyze data about your market. The data obtained will enable you to assess market demand, understand your target audience better, optimize pricing , jump on market trends, etc.

In general, you’ll have enough insights to inform product development and tailor products to meet audience needs.

Send market research surveys at regular intervals, especially when planning product launches.

Examples of market research survey questions include:

• How much are you willing to pay for [product name]?
• What is the problem that the product/service helped to solve for you?
• How do you search for the products you want to buy?
• What factors influence your decision to purchase?

3. Brand awareness survey

Trigger this survey to measure your target market’s awareness and perceptions of your brand and generate insights to improve brand positioning .

Make brand awareness surveys a regular practice, especially after a crucial marketing campaign. Doing this helps you gauge your efforts and consistently push the correct narrative about your company.

Brand awareness survey question examples:

• Describe [brand name] in one sentence.
• How do you feel about [brand]?
• Do you currently use the product of this brand?
• Which of the following products have you tried? (Select all that apply)
• How did you hear about us?

4. Competitor research survey

Run this survey to analyze your relative position to competitors. Focus your questions on competitor pricing, marketing strategies, analysis of their products and services, etc., and use the data to devise strategies and gain a competitive advantage.

Example of questions to ask:

• Which product/service would you consider as an alternative to ours?
• How would you compare our products to our competitors?
• Compared to our competitors, is our product quality better, worse, or about the same?
• What do you think about our pricing?
• Why did you choose to use our [product] over other options?
• Which other options did you consider before choosing [product name]?

5. Product research survey

Product surveys give you a general idea of what users think of your product. Collecting this data can help you prioritize the product roadmap and find ways to improve the product experience.

Product research survey questions examples:

• What specific features or aspects of our product do you like the most?
• How easy or difficult was it to use the product?
• Is there anything missing from our product that you want to see added or improved?
• Did the product meet your expectations?
• How would you rate the ease of use and user interface of our product?
• What add-ons will you like in our product?

6. Feature research survey

Similar to product research, this narrows the focus to specific features. You can trigger this survey immediately after first-time interaction with a feature, when beta testing a feature, or after you’ve launched a new feature.

Example of feature research survey questions to ask existing customers:

• Please let us know how we can further improve this feature.
• How was your experience using [feature name]?
• Do you find this feature helpful?

7. Product-market fit (PMF) survey

PMF surveys help you understand whether your product addresses and solves the needs of your target market.

The data uncovered will let you know if there’s a demand in the market you’re selling and whether you’re moving in the right direction.

Example of the typical PMF survey:

How would you feel if you could no longer use our product?

• Very disappointed
• Somewhat disappointed
• Not disappointed

You’ve achieved product-market fit if over 40% of respondents will be disappointed that they can no longer use your product.

8. Net Promoter Score survey (NPS)

This survey uses an 11-point scale (0-10) to measure customer loyalty and predict business growth.

The standard question is usually something like:

“On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend our product to a friend or colleague?”

NPS survey respondents are classified into three:

• Promoters: They love your tool and rate you 9 or 10
• Passives: They’re neutral, so they rate you 7 or 8
• Detractors: This group are unhappy with their experience and rate you between 0 and 6

Subtract the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters to get your Net Promoter Score.

The NPS surveys you trigger can be transactional (sent after purchases, onboarding, customer service call, etc.) or relational (sent regularly to keep in touch with customers).

How you send your surveys totally depends on your objectives, but we recommend using both transactional and relational NPS so you don’t miss out on any insight.

Speaking of insights, it’s hard to know what the customer thinks by just seeing their rating. That’s why it’s a good idea to send quantitative follow-up questions that give respondents enough room for expression.

Examples of follow-up questions to ask:

• Why did you choose that score?
• What specific aspect(s) of our product/service influenced your rating the most?
• What improvements or changes would make you more likely to recommend our product/service?
• How can we improve your experience?
• What do you like most/least about [product name]?

9. Customer satisfaction survey (CSAT)

CSAT surveys measure customer satisfaction data at a granular level, providing you with insights to improve the user experience.

Trigger your CSAT surveys after specific engagements—e.g., when users interact with a feature for the first time, after contacting support, immediately after a customer renews their accounts, etc.

Measuring user satisfaction at every touchpoint reveals friction areas so you can investigate and fix them.

CSAT surveys are typically measured with smiley faces or a Likert scale having 1-5 answer statements.

Examples of questions to ask:

• How would you rate your interaction with our support team?
• How satisfied are you with [product] so far?
• Did [feature] meet your expectations?

10. Customer effort score (CES) survey

This survey measures the perceived effort a customer exerts to complete an action while engaging with your business.

CES is similar to CSAT in many ways. For instance, they serve the same purpose—identifying the friction points in the user experience —and use the same Likert scale.

Examples of CES questions:

• How easy was it to [perform action]?
• On a scale of 1-7, how would you rate the effort it takes to use our X feature?
• Was it easy to find the information you wanted?

11. Content evaluation survey

Trigger this one if you want to assess the effectiveness of your resources/help guides. The responses will enable you to improve the quality of the training content you produce and increase in-app engagement.

Set your evaluation survey to trigger after a user engages with the training material. Some questions to ask include:

• How helpful did you find this resource?
• Have you found what you were looking for in this article?
• Which types of content did you find most valuable and informative? (e.g., interactive walkthroughs , blog posts, video tutorials, etc.)
• Did you find the content easy to consume and understand?

12. Exit surveys

Exit or so-called churn surveys aims to understand the reasons behind churn and reduce cancelations by offering alternatives before letting customers go.

Set your exit surveys to automatically trigger when a customer clicks the cancelation account button. Ensure the survey is delivered in-app right at the moment your customer is about to cancel. Not everyone will go ahead and answer a survey they got via email after they finished closing their account.

• What is the reason you are leaving [product name]?
• What’s the main reason you are canceling your account?
• Why did you decide to cancel your subscription?

What are the best tools for creating market surveys?

When selecting a survey tool, go for something that:

• Allows you to build multiple survey types.
• Can analyze survey responses to generate rich insights.
• Is easy to use even if you don’t have experience creating your own market research.

The tools below help you do just that.

Userpilot – best for short in-app surveys

Userpilot is a product growth platform that helps PMs and PMMs drive product adoption.

With Userpilot, you can:

• Choose from a variety of survey templates and customize them to your brand. You can also build from scratch if you want—all code free.
• Dig into survey analytics to see how your surveys are performing. A glance at the results dashboard will show you how many people completed the survey, where most respondents dropped, etc.
• Trigger surveys contextually based on user behavior using custom events and segmentation.

• Localize the survey content to make the survey include global audiences.
• Tag qualitative NPS responses and analyze patterns easily.

Typeform – best for long-form market research surveys

Typeform allows you to include multiple questions in your surveys. You can freely move between different response types in the same survey—e.g., Likert scale, qualitative questions, yes/no questions, etc.

More importantly, the platform has extensive survey templates to save you time and mental energy.

Once your survey is ready, you can generate a link and embed it on any platform that allows it.

For example, Userpilot seamlessly integrates with Typeform, so you can include your Typeform surveys while building with our app.

Marketing surveys come with lots of benefits for your company.

Gathering responses from your target audience helps you shape your offerings to the market need and consistently stay ahead of the competition. You’ll drive acquisitions and long-term retention faster that way.

Ready to get started with marketing surveys? Get a Userpilot Demo now to see how our platform can help you build and analyze different surveys.

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Written by Mary Kate Miller | June 1, 2021

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Market research is a cornerstone of all successful, strategic businesses. It can also be daunting for entrepreneurs looking to launch a startup or start a side hustle . What is market research, anyway? And how do you…do it?

We’ll walk you through absolutely everything you need to know about the market research process so that by the end of this guide, you’ll be an expert in market research too. And what’s more important: you’ll have actionable steps you can take to start collecting your own market research.

What Is Market Research?

Market research is the organized process of gathering information about your target customers and market. Market research can help you better understand customer behavior and competitor strengths and weaknesses, as well as provide insight for the best strategies in launching new businesses and products. There are different ways to approach market research, including primary and secondary research and qualitative and quantitative research. The strongest approaches will include a combination of all four.

“Virtually every business can benefit from conducting some market research,” says Niles Koenigsberg of Real FiG Advertising + Marketing . “Market research can help you piece together your [business’s] strengths and weaknesses, along with your prospective opportunities, so that you can understand where your unique differentiators may lie.” Well-honed market research will help your brand stand out from the competition and help you see what you need to do to lead the market. It can also do so much more.

The Purposes of Market Research

Why do market research? It can help you…

• Pinpoint your target market, create buyer personas, and develop a more holistic understanding of your customer base and market.
• Understand current market conditions to evaluate risks and anticipate how your product or service will perform.
• Validate a concept prior to launch.
• Identify gaps in the market that your competitors have created or overlooked.
• Solve problems that have been left unresolved by the existing product/brand offerings.
• Identify opportunities and solutions for new products or services.
• Develop killer marketing strategies .

What Are the Benefits of Market Research?

Strong market research can help your business in many ways. It can…

• Strengthen your market position.
• Help you identify your strengths and weaknesses.
• Help you identify your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses.
• Minimize risk.
• Center your customers’ experience from the get-go.
• Help you create a dynamic strategy based on market conditions and customer needs/demands.

What Are the Basic Methods of Market Research?

The basic methods of market research include surveys, personal interviews, customer observation, and the review of secondary research. In addition to these basic methods, a forward-thinking market research approach incorporates data from the digital landscape like social media analysis, SEO research, gathering feedback via forums, and more. Throughout this guide, we will cover each of the methods commonly used in market research to give you a comprehensive overview.

Primary vs. Secondary Market Research

Primary and secondary are the two main types of market research you can do. The latter relies on research conducted by others. Primary research, on the other hand, refers to the fact-finding efforts you conduct on your own.

This approach is limited, however. It’s likely that the research objectives of these secondary data points differ from your own, and it can be difficult to confirm the veracity of their findings.

Primary Market Research

Primary research is more labor intensive, but it generally yields data that is exponentially more actionable. It can be conducted through interviews, surveys, online research, and your own data collection. Every new business should engage in primary market research prior to launch. It will help you validate that your idea has traction, and it will give you the information you need to help minimize financial risk.

You can hire an agency to conduct this research on your behalf. This brings the benefit of expertise, as you’ll likely work with a market research analyst. The downside is that hiring an agency can be expensive—too expensive for many burgeoning entrepreneurs. That brings us to the second approach. You can also do the market research yourself, which substantially reduces the financial burden of starting a new business .

Secondary Market Research

Secondary research includes resources like government databases and industry-specific data and publications. It can be beneficial to start your market research with secondary sources because it’s widely available and often free-to-access. This information will help you gain a broad overview of the market conditions for your new business.

Identify Your Goals and Your Audience

Before you begin conducting interviews or sending out surveys, you need to set your market research goals. At the end of your market research process, you want to have a clear idea of who your target market is—including demographic information like age, gender, and where they live—but you also want to start with a rough idea of who your audience might be and what you’re trying to achieve with market research.

You can pinpoint your objectives by asking yourself a series of guiding questions:

• What are you hoping to discover through your research?
• Who are you hoping to serve better because of your findings?
• What do you think your market is?
• Who are your competitors?
• Are you testing the reception of a new product category or do you want to see if your product or service solves the problem left by a current gap in the market?
• Are you just…testing the waters to get a sense of how people would react to a new brand?

Once you’ve narrowed down the “what” of your market research goals, you’re ready to move onto how you can best achieve them. Think of it like algebra. Many math problems start with “solve for x.” Once you know what you’re looking for, you can get to work trying to find it. It’s a heck of a lot easier to solve a problem when you know you’re looking for “x” than if you were to say “I’m gonna throw some numbers out there and see if I find a variable.”

How to Do Market Research

This guide outlines every component of a comprehensive market research effort. Take into consideration the goals you have established for your market research, as they will influence which of these elements you’ll want to include in your market research strategy.

Secondary Data

Secondary data allows you to utilize pre-existing data to garner a sense of market conditions and opportunities. You can rely on published market studies, white papers, and public competitive information to start your market research journey.

Secondary data, while useful, is limited and cannot substitute your own primary data. It’s best used for quantitative data that can provide background to your more specific inquiries.

Find Your Customers Online

Once you’ve identified your target market, you can use online gathering spaces and forums to gain insights and give yourself a competitive advantage. Rebecca McCusker of The Creative Content Shop recommends internet recon as a vital tool for gaining a sense of customer needs and sentiment. “Read their posts and comments on forums, YouTube video comments, Facebook group [comments], and even Amazon/Goodreads book comments to get in their heads and see what people are saying.”

If you’re interested in engaging with your target demographic online, there are some general rules you should follow. First, secure the consent of any group moderators to ensure that you are acting within the group guidelines. Failure to do so could result in your eviction from the group.

Not all comments have the same research value. “Focus on the comments and posts with the most comments and highest engagement,” says McCusker. These high-engagement posts can give you a sense of what is already connecting and gaining traction within the group.

Social media can also be a great avenue for finding interview subjects. “LinkedIn is very useful if your [target customer] has a very specific job or works in a very specific industry or sector. It’s amazing the amount of people that will be willing to help,” explains Miguel González, a marketing executive at Dealers League . “My advice here is BE BRAVE, go to LinkedIn, or even to people you know and ask them, do quick interviews and ask real people that belong to that market and segment and get your buyer persona information first hand.”

Market research interviews can provide direct feedback on your brand, product, or service and give you a better understanding of consumer pain points and interests.

When organizing your market research interviews, you want to pay special attention to the sample group you’re selecting, as it will directly impact the information you receive. According to Tanya Zhang, the co-founder of Nimble Made , you want to first determine whether you want to choose a representative sample—for example, interviewing people who match each of the buyer persona/customer profiles you’ve developed—or a random sample.

“A sampling of your usual persona styles, for example, can validate details that you’ve already established about your product, while a random sampling may [help you] discover a new way people may use your product,” Zhang says.

Market Surveys

Market surveys solicit customer inclinations regarding your potential product or service through a series of open-ended questions. This direct outreach to your target audience can provide information on your customers’ preferences, attitudes, buying potential, and more.

Every expert we asked voiced unanimous support for market surveys as a powerful tool for market research. With the advent of various survey tools with accessible pricing—or free use—it’s never been easier to assemble, disseminate, and gather market surveys. While it should also be noted that surveys shouldn’t replace customer interviews , they can be used to supplement customer interviews to give you feedback from a broader audience.

Who to Include in Market Surveys

• Current customers
• Past customers
• Your existing audience (such as social media/newsletter audiences)

Example Questions to Include in Market Surveys

While the exact questions will vary for each business, here are some common, helpful questions that you may want to consider for your market survey. Demographic Questions: the questions that help you understand, demographically, who your target customers are:

• “What is your age?”
• “Where do you live?”
• “What is your gender identity?”
• “What is your household income?”
• “What is your household size?”
• “What do you do for a living?”
• “What is your highest level of education?”

Product-Based Questions: Whether you’re seeking feedback for an existing brand or an entirely new one, these questions will help you get a sense of how people feel about your business, product, or service:

• “How well does/would our product/service meet your needs?”
• “How does our product/service compare to similar products/services that you use?”
• “How long have you been a customer?” or “What is the likelihood that you would be a customer of our brand?

Personal/Informative Questions: the deeper questions that help you understand how your audience thinks and what they care about.

• “What are your biggest challenges?”
• “What’s most important to you?”
• “What do you do for fun (hobbies, interests, activities)?”
• “Where do you seek new information when researching a new product?”
• “How do you like to make purchases?”
• “What is your preferred method for interacting with a brand?”

Survey Tools

Online survey tools make it easy to distribute surveys and collect responses. The best part is that there are many free tools available. If you’re making your own online survey, you may want to consider SurveyMonkey, Typeform, Google Forms, or Zoho Survey.

Competitive Analysis

A competitive analysis is a breakdown of how your business stacks up against the competition. There are many different ways to conduct this analysis. One of the most popular methods is a SWOT analysis, which stands for “strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.” This type of analysis is helpful because it gives you a more robust understanding of why a customer might choose a competitor over your business. Seeing how you stack up against the competition can give you the direction you need to carve out your place as a market leader.

Social Media Analysis

Social media has fundamentally changed the market research landscape, making it easier than ever to engage with a wide swath of consumers. Follow your current or potential competitors on social media to see what they’re posting and how their audience is engaging with it. Social media can also give you a lower cost opportunity for testing different messaging and brand positioning.

SEO Analysis and Opportunities

SEO analysis can help you identify the digital competition for getting the word out about your brand, product, or service. You won’t want to overlook this valuable information. Search listening tools offer a novel approach to understanding the market and generating the content strategy that will drive business. Tools like Google Trends and Awario can streamline this process.

Ready to Kick Your Business Into High Gear?

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The state of AI in early 2024: Gen AI adoption spikes and starts to generate value

If 2023 was the year the world discovered generative AI (gen AI) , 2024 is the year organizations truly began using—and deriving business value from—this new technology. In the latest McKinsey Global Survey  on AI, 65 percent of respondents report that their organizations are regularly using gen AI, nearly double the percentage from our previous survey just ten months ago. Respondents’ expectations for gen AI’s impact remain as high as they were last year , with three-quarters predicting that gen AI will lead to significant or disruptive change in their industries in the years ahead.

About the authors

This article is a collaborative effort by Alex Singla , Alexander Sukharevsky , Lareina Yee , and Michael Chui , with Bryce Hall , representing views from QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey, and McKinsey Digital.

Organizations are already seeing material benefits from gen AI use, reporting both cost decreases and revenue jumps in the business units deploying the technology. The survey also provides insights into the kinds of risks presented by gen AI—most notably, inaccuracy—as well as the emerging practices of top performers to mitigate those challenges and capture value.

AI adoption surges

Interest in generative AI has also brightened the spotlight on a broader set of AI capabilities. For the past six years, AI adoption by respondents’ organizations has hovered at about 50 percent. This year, the survey finds that adoption has jumped to 72 percent (Exhibit 1). And the interest is truly global in scope. Our 2023 survey found that AI adoption did not reach 66 percent in any region; however, this year more than two-thirds of respondents in nearly every region say their organizations are using AI. 1 Organizations based in Central and South America are the exception, with 58 percent of respondents working for organizations based in Central and South America reporting AI adoption. Looking by industry, the biggest increase in adoption can be found in professional services. 2 Includes respondents working for organizations focused on human resources, legal services, management consulting, market research, R&D, tax preparation, and training.

Also, responses suggest that companies are now using AI in more parts of the business. Half of respondents say their organizations have adopted AI in two or more business functions, up from less than a third of respondents in 2023 (Exhibit 2).

Gen AI adoption is most common in the functions where it can create the most value

Most respondents now report that their organizations—and they as individuals—are using gen AI. Sixty-five percent of respondents say their organizations are regularly using gen AI in at least one business function, up from one-third last year. The average organization using gen AI is doing so in two functions, most often in marketing and sales and in product and service development—two functions in which previous research  determined that gen AI adoption could generate the most value 3 “ The economic potential of generative AI: The next productivity frontier ,” McKinsey, June 14, 2023. —as well as in IT (Exhibit 3). The biggest increase from 2023 is found in marketing and sales, where reported adoption has more than doubled. Yet across functions, only two use cases, both within marketing and sales, are reported by 15 percent or more of respondents.

Gen AI also is weaving its way into respondents’ personal lives. Compared with 2023, respondents are much more likely to be using gen AI at work and even more likely to be using gen AI both at work and in their personal lives (Exhibit 4). The survey finds upticks in gen AI use across all regions, with the largest increases in Asia–Pacific and Greater China. Respondents at the highest seniority levels, meanwhile, show larger jumps in the use of gen Al tools for work and outside of work compared with their midlevel-management peers. Looking at specific industries, respondents working in energy and materials and in professional services report the largest increase in gen AI use.

Investments in gen AI and analytical AI are beginning to create value

The latest survey also shows how different industries are budgeting for gen AI. Responses suggest that, in many industries, organizations are about equally as likely to be investing more than 5 percent of their digital budgets in gen AI as they are in nongenerative, analytical-AI solutions (Exhibit 5). Yet in most industries, larger shares of respondents report that their organizations spend more than 20 percent on analytical AI than on gen AI. Looking ahead, most respondents—67 percent—expect their organizations to invest more in AI over the next three years.

Where are those investments paying off? For the first time, our latest survey explored the value created by gen AI use by business function. The function in which the largest share of respondents report seeing cost decreases is human resources. Respondents most commonly report meaningful revenue increases (of more than 5 percent) in supply chain and inventory management (Exhibit 6). For analytical AI, respondents most often report seeing cost benefits in service operations—in line with what we found last year —as well as meaningful revenue increases from AI use in marketing and sales.

Inaccuracy: The most recognized and experienced risk of gen AI use

As businesses begin to see the benefits of gen AI, they’re also recognizing the diverse risks associated with the technology. These can range from data management risks such as data privacy, bias, or intellectual property (IP) infringement to model management risks, which tend to focus on inaccurate output or lack of explainability. A third big risk category is security and incorrect use.

Respondents to the latest survey are more likely than they were last year to say their organizations consider inaccuracy and IP infringement to be relevant to their use of gen AI, and about half continue to view cybersecurity as a risk (Exhibit 7).

Conversely, respondents are less likely than they were last year to say their organizations consider workforce and labor displacement to be relevant risks and are not increasing efforts to mitigate them.

In fact, inaccuracy— which can affect use cases across the gen AI value chain , ranging from customer journeys and summarization to coding and creative content—is the only risk that respondents are significantly more likely than last year to say their organizations are actively working to mitigate.

Some organizations have already experienced negative consequences from the use of gen AI, with 44 percent of respondents saying their organizations have experienced at least one consequence (Exhibit 8). Respondents most often report inaccuracy as a risk that has affected their organizations, followed by cybersecurity and explainability.

Our previous research has found that there are several elements of governance that can help in scaling gen AI use responsibly, yet few respondents report having these risk-related practices in place. 4 “ Implementing generative AI with speed and safety ,” McKinsey Quarterly , March 13, 2024. For example, just 18 percent say their organizations have an enterprise-wide council or board with the authority to make decisions involving responsible AI governance, and only one-third say gen AI risk awareness and risk mitigation controls are required skill sets for technical talent.

Bringing gen AI capabilities to bear

The latest survey also sought to understand how, and how quickly, organizations are deploying these new gen AI tools. We have found three archetypes for implementing gen AI solutions : takers use off-the-shelf, publicly available solutions; shapers customize those tools with proprietary data and systems; and makers develop their own foundation models from scratch. 5 “ Technology’s generational moment with generative AI: A CIO and CTO guide ,” McKinsey, July 11, 2023. Across most industries, the survey results suggest that organizations are finding off-the-shelf offerings applicable to their business needs—though many are pursuing opportunities to customize models or even develop their own (Exhibit 9). About half of reported gen AI uses within respondents’ business functions are utilizing off-the-shelf, publicly available models or tools, with little or no customization. Respondents in energy and materials, technology, and media and telecommunications are more likely to report significant customization or tuning of publicly available models or developing their own proprietary models to address specific business needs.

Respondents most often report that their organizations required one to four months from the start of a project to put gen AI into production, though the time it takes varies by business function (Exhibit 10). It also depends upon the approach for acquiring those capabilities. Not surprisingly, reported uses of highly customized or proprietary models are 1.5 times more likely than off-the-shelf, publicly available models to take five months or more to implement.

Gen AI high performers are excelling despite facing challenges

Gen AI is a new technology, and organizations are still early in the journey of pursuing its opportunities and scaling it across functions. So it’s little surprise that only a small subset of respondents (46 out of 876) report that a meaningful share of their organizations’ EBIT can be attributed to their deployment of gen AI. Still, these gen AI leaders are worth examining closely. These, after all, are the early movers, who already attribute more than 10 percent of their organizations’ EBIT to their use of gen AI. Forty-two percent of these high performers say more than 20 percent of their EBIT is attributable to their use of nongenerative, analytical AI, and they span industries and regions—though most are at organizations with less than $1 billion in annual revenue. The AI-related practices at these organizations can offer guidance to those looking to create value from gen AI adoption at their own organizations.

To start, gen AI high performers are using gen AI in more business functions—an average of three functions, while others average two. They, like other organizations, are most likely to use gen AI in marketing and sales and product or service development, but they’re much more likely than others to use gen AI solutions in risk, legal, and compliance; in strategy and corporate finance; and in supply chain and inventory management. They’re more than three times as likely as others to be using gen AI in activities ranging from processing of accounting documents and risk assessment to R&D testing and pricing and promotions. While, overall, about half of reported gen AI applications within business functions are utilizing publicly available models or tools, gen AI high performers are less likely to use those off-the-shelf options than to either implement significantly customized versions of those tools or to develop their own proprietary foundation models.

What else are these high performers doing differently? For one thing, they are paying more attention to gen-AI-related risks. Perhaps because they are further along on their journeys, they are more likely than others to say their organizations have experienced every negative consequence from gen AI we asked about, from cybersecurity and personal privacy to explainability and IP infringement. Given that, they are more likely than others to report that their organizations consider those risks, as well as regulatory compliance, environmental impacts, and political stability, to be relevant to their gen AI use, and they say they take steps to mitigate more risks than others do.

Gen AI high performers are also much more likely to say their organizations follow a set of risk-related best practices (Exhibit 11). For example, they are nearly twice as likely as others to involve the legal function and embed risk reviews early on in the development of gen AI solutions—that is, to “ shift left .” They’re also much more likely than others to employ a wide range of other best practices, from strategy-related practices to those related to scaling.

In addition to experiencing the risks of gen AI adoption, high performers have encountered other challenges that can serve as warnings to others (Exhibit 12). Seventy percent say they have experienced difficulties with data, including defining processes for data governance, developing the ability to quickly integrate data into AI models, and an insufficient amount of training data, highlighting the essential role that data play in capturing value. High performers are also more likely than others to report experiencing challenges with their operating models, such as implementing agile ways of working and effective sprint performance management.

About the research

The online survey was in the field from February 22 to March 5, 2024, and garnered responses from 1,363 participants representing the full range of regions, industries, company sizes, functional specialties, and tenures. Of those respondents, 981 said their organizations had adopted AI in at least one business function, and 878 said their organizations were regularly using gen AI in at least one function. To adjust for differences in response rates, the data are weighted by the contribution of each respondent’s nation to global GDP.

Alex Singla and Alexander Sukharevsky  are global coleaders of QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey, and senior partners in McKinsey’s Chicago and London offices, respectively; Lareina Yee  is a senior partner in the Bay Area office, where Michael Chui , a McKinsey Global Institute partner, is a partner; and Bryce Hall  is an associate partner in the Washington, DC, office.

They wish to thank Kaitlin Noe, Larry Kanter, Mallika Jhamb, and Shinjini Srivastava for their contributions to this work.

This article was edited by Heather Hanselman, a senior editor in McKinsey’s Atlanta office.

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Intelligent Investment

2024 U.S. Hotel Investor Intentions Survey

Half of u.s. hotel investors plan to buy more this year.

May 23, 2024 7 Minute Read

Executive Summary

• U.S. investors have generally positive sentiment about the hotel market this year, with half of those surveyed planning to increase their hotel investments in anticipation of higher total returns and lower prices. Strengthening the balance sheet and difficulty in securing and servicing debt are the top challenges for those who plan to buy less this year.
• Central business districts (CBDs) and resorts are the most favored location types, while upper-upscale and upscale/upper-midscale are the most popular chain-scale targets in 2024. We expect RevPAR growth of 3.1% for urban locations from increased group, business and international travel. We also expect that steady leisure demand and modest ADR gains will support 1.6% RevPAR growth for resort locations.
• Increased borrowing costs and labor expenses are the biggest challenges for hotel investment this year, followed by higher insurance costs. These costs likely will lower margins. While we expect traditional hotel demand and pricing may be tempered by competition from alternative sources like cruise lines, short-term rentals and outdoor lodging, only 30% of those surveyed consider this a challenge.
• Major urban markets like New York and Washington, D.C. are expected to have the strongest hotel market fundamentals in 2024, along with leisure-focused locations like Miami, Charleston and Austin. Given limited new hotel supply and restrictions on short-term rentals, New York City is 2024’s most attractive investment market, followed by Miami, Charleston and Boston. Perhaps because more distressed assets could enter the market and make pricing more favorable, investors indicated interest in San Francisco—a market that has lagged in recovery since the pandemic.

Click to enlarge

Half of investors expect to increase their investments in hotels in 2024.

CBRE Hotels Research conducted a Global Hotel Investor Intentions Survey in early 2024 to assess the climate for hotel investment. In the U.S., hotel investor sentiment appears robust, with half of the respondents indicating that their allocation to hotel acquisitions would increase. Roughly 35% of respondents expect acquisition activity to remain the same as in 2023, while less than 16% expect it to decrease.

Figure 1: U.S. Investors’ Buying Intentions

Despite high interest rates, many investors remain eager to acquire hotels. More than 70% of those surveyed said they are targeting value-added and opportunistic hotel investments. Value-added acquisitions offer an opportunity to reposition assets by adding rooms, redesigning interior spaces or adding amenities to increase the property's returns and long-term value.

Figure 2: Types of Assets to Be Targeted in 2024

Among those investors planning to increase their hotel acquisitions this year, nearly 40% said lower prices and better total return prospects were the primary reasons why. More than one-third of investors cited more distressed-asset opportunities and decreasing debt costs as reasons to increase hotel acquisitions.

Of those investors planning to reduce their allocation to hotels this year, 64% said that strengthening their balance sheets and difficulty in securing and servicing debt were the primary reasons why.

Figure 3: Reasons to Increase Hotel Asset Allocations in 2024

Figure 4: Reasons to Decrease Hotel Asset Allocations in 2024

Investors were split on whether to buy or sell globally branded hotels. More than half plan to dispose of such assets, while over one-third plan to acquire them. Similarly, more investors plan to dispose of independent hotels than those who plan to acquire them.

A much greater percentage of investors plan to sell and buy branded hotels this year, compared with independent hotels. This is not surprising given that branded properties account for more than 70% of total room supply. Representing 30% of room supply, independent hotels showed a more bearish weighting of divestitures to investments at 186%, while globally branded hotels had a slightly lower weighting at 165%.

Despite limited supply, only soft brands (those affiliated with a global brand but retaining an independent brand name) and those eligible to be converted to other brands upon sale had a higher percentage of investors favoring acquisitions over dispositions. Soft-branded hotels were more than two-thirds as likely to be targeted for acquisition.

Figure 5: Most Likely Acquisition/disposition Targets in 2024

Resort & CBD Assets Most Favored

More than 40% of investors said that resorts were the most attractive location type, followed by CBD locations by 26% of respondents. Driven by the ongoing recovery in inbound international travel and strong performance of the meetings and group events segment, we expect RevPAR growth to outperform in urban locations this year. We also forecast that consistent leisure demand and modest ADR gains will support 1.6% RevPAR growth for resorts.

Figure 6: Investment Attractiveness by Location Type

Upper-upscale Assets Seen as Most Attractive

Upper-upscale assets are most favored by 42% of investors, followed by upscale/upper-midscale by 40%. Luxury assets are most favored by 31%, while midscale/economy properties were favored the least, which could be due to RevPAR declines last year.

Figure 7: Investment Attractiveness by Chain Scale

Given concerns about rising labor costs and lower margins, it is not surprising that 40% of investors favor the acquisition and development of limited-service hotels, followed by full-service hotels by 32% of respondents. Despite strong interest in extended-stay hotels during the pandemic and the recent increase in extended-stay offerings by major hotel brand families, these assets are the the top choice for just 21% of investors.

Figure 8: Investment Attractiveness by Service Offering

Borrowing & Labor Costs of Most Concern

Increased borrowing and labor costs are the biggest challenges for hotel investors this year, followed by higher insurance costs. All of these are expected to lower margins. Investors were least concerned about competition from alternative sources like cruise lines, short-term rentals and glamping.

Figure 9: Most Challenging Issues in 2024

Urban & Leisure Markets Seen as Top Performers

New York City and Washington, D.C. are expected to have the strongest hotel market fundamentals this year, followed by Austin, Charleston and Miami.

Figure 10: Expectations for Top-performing Hotel Markets in 2024

New York City is the most attractive market for hotel investment, given its limited supply and restrictions on short-term rentals. Despite continuing to struggle, San Francisco is an attractive investment possibility for 2024. Leisure markets like Miami and Charleston are also attractive for investors.

Figure 11: Most Attractive Markets for Hotel Investment in 2024

Who Took Part in Our Survey

The 2024 CBRE U.S. Hotel Investor Intentions Survey had over 130 respondents with primary responsibility for investing in the United States. The majority (61%) were developers/owners/operators. More than half had at least 75% of their assets under management in hotels and 84% had between $5 billion and $10 billion of assets under management. The survey was conducted in early 2024.

Figure 12: Percentage of Respondents by Investor Type

Figure 13: Percentage of Survey Respondents by AUM

Figure 14: Percentage of Survey Respondents by Portfolio Exposure to Hotels

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After RevPAR rose to a record high in 2023, CBRE expects the U.S. to see another year of improvement in 2024.

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More than half of Americans are following election news closely, and many are already worn out

A majority of Americans say they are closely following news about the 2024 U.S. presidential election, a slightly higher share than in April 2020. At the same time, many people already say they are worn out by so much coverage of the campaign and candidates, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted this April.

To examine Americans’ habits and attitudes toward political and election news and information, Pew Research Center surveyed 8,709 U.S. adults from April 8 to 14, 2024.

Everyone who completed the survey is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The surveys are weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the  ATP’s methodology .

Here are the  questions used for this analysis , along with responses, and its  methodology .

Pew Research Center is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts, its primary funder. This is the latest analysis in Pew Research Center’s ongoing investigation of the state of news, information and journalism in the digital age, a research program funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, with generous support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

How closely Americans follow election news

More than half of Americans (58%) say they are following news about candidates for the 2024 presidential election very or fairly closely. Another 28% say they aren’t following it too closely, and 13% aren’t following it closely at all.

The share of Americans who are closely following election news is slightly higher now than it was in April 2020 (52%). In October 2020, however, that share increased to 75%.

This year, Republicans and independents who lean toward the Republican Party are slightly more likely than Democrats and Democratic leaners to say they are closely following election news (64% vs. 58%).

As in past presidential elections, older adults are more likely than younger adults to say they are closely following news about the candidates. Roughly eight-in-ten U.S. adults ages 65 and older (82%) currently say this, compared with 68% of those ages 50 to 64, 48% of those ages 30 to 49, and only 34% of those ages 18 to 29.

Fatigue over election coverage

Although many Americans are following news about the 2024 presidential candidates, they are also experiencing fatigue over election coverage. About six-in-ten U.S. adults (62%) already say they are worn out by so much coverage of the campaign and candidates, while 35% say they like seeing a lot of this coverage.

This is similar to the share of Americans who said they felt worn out at later points in the last two presidential election years. In June and July 2016 , 59% of Americans said they felt worn out, and in October 2020 , 61% felt this way.

Americans who are following election news closely are less likely than those who aren’t to be worn out by election coverage. Four-in-ten Americans who say they follow news about candidates very closely say they are worn out by so much coverage, compared with 77% of those who say they don’t follow it closely at all.

Republicans are slightly less likely than Democrats to say they are worn out by election coverage (58% vs. 66%). This gap is driven by conservative Republicans (55%), who are less likely than moderate or liberal Republicans (65%) to feel worn out.

How Americans come across election news

Americans are more likely to say they mostly get political news because they happen to come across it (57%) than because they are looking for it (42%).

However, there are striking differences on this question by age. Just a quarter of Americans ages 18 to 29 say they mostly get political news because they are looking for it, compared with 60% of those 65 and older – a gap of 35 percentage points.

Those who say they closely follow news about the 2024 presidential election are also far more likely to actively seek out political news. About six-in-ten U.S. adults who closely follow election news (58%) say they mostly get political news this way, compared with 18% of those who are not closely following election news.

Republicans and Democrats are equally likely to say they mostly get political news because they look for it (44% vs. 43%). However, independents who do not lean toward either party (21%) are about half as likely to say this.

Sources of election news

We also asked what type of sources Americans get most of their political and election news from. A majority of U.S. adults (62%) say they get most of this news from journalists and news organizations. (The question did not ask how people access that news , such as through TV, print, news websites or social media.)

Around one-in-ten Americans (11%) say they get most political and election news from friends, family and neighbors. Smaller shares say they get most of this news from celebrities and social media personalities (4%), politicians and political parties (3%), and ordinary people they don’t know (2%). An additional 17% say they don’t get most of their political or election news from any of these sources.

There are a few differences in election news sources by Americans’ age and political party:

• Older Americans are far more likely than younger ones to say they get most political and election news from journalists and news organizations. Around three-quarters of Americans ages 65 and older (78%) say this, compared with 68% of those ages 50 to 64, 55% of those 30 to 49, and 45% of those 18 to 29.
• Adults under 30 are significantly more likely than those 65 and older to say they get most of this news from celebrities and social media personalities (10% vs. 1%). They are also more likely to get this news from friends, family and neighbors (18% vs. 6%).
• Democrats are slightly more likely than Republicans to say they get most political and election news from journalists and news organizations (69% vs. 59%).
• Republicans are slightly more likely than Democrats to say they don’t get most political or election news from any of these sources (20% vs. 12%).

Note: Here are the questions used for this analysis , along with responses, and its methodology . Research Assistant Emily Tomasik contributed to this analysis.

• Election 2024
• Election News
• News Coverage
• Politics & Media

Kirsten Eddy is a senior researcher focusing on news and information at Pew Research Center .

Two-thirds of U.S. adults say they’ve seen their own news sources report facts meant to favor one side

A growing share of voters say it’s important to them to hear from the trump and biden campaigns, americans are following news about presidential candidates much less closely than covid-19 news, black and white democrats differ in their media diets, assessments of primaries, 5 key findings from our latest election news pathways survey, from impeachment to the democratic race, most popular.

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