{"id":14795,"date":"2019-07-10T09:28:10","date_gmt":"2019-07-10T08:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.names.co.uk\/blog\/?p=14795"},"modified":"2019-07-10T09:48:43","modified_gmt":"2019-07-10T08:48:43","slug":"business-research-methods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.names.co.uk\/blog\/business-research-methods\/","title":{"rendered":"How to use business research methods to understand your consumers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Connecting with customers is clearly vital for business success. However, it is not always easy to know exactly who your customer is or what they are seeking. Research is important for uncovering essential information and refining how your business delivers what its customers are really looking for. In this post we’ll be taking a look at how you can use business research methods to understand your customers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Business research methods fall into a number of categories\nand it is important to be aware of these in order to select the optimum methods\nand determine the best ways to collect data. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Qualitative and quantitative research<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One of the most enduring business research methods is what\nis known as qualitative market research. This is frequently used to gather\ninsights into why consumers buy the products they do, or what motivates them to\nbe loyal to a particular brand. Qualitative research plays a vital role, as it\nis focused on finding out the how and the why behind the decisions that\nconsumers make. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quantitative research sets out to determine general\nparameters, i.e. the when, where and what of why consumers behave in the way\nthat they do. Qualitative research can draw on a number of techniques and is\ngenerally considered to be even more valuable when used with quantitative\nresearch as the two complement each other. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Techniques<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Business research methods often revolve around asking\nquestions. These can be asked of individuals, whether face to face, on the\nphone, or via a platform such as Skype. Focus groups are another great option\nwhen it comes to business research methods as these allow you to see consumers\u2019\nreactions to products as they happen, together with the group dynamic and how\nothers in the group react to comments or statements about the product. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Focus groups can be used to determine reactions to a range\nof company materials, including advertising campaigns and photographs, together\nwith new ideas for products. They can enable people to use or taste products in\nyour presence or obtain reactions to new and existing concepts. If cost control\nis a key factor, focus groups can also be conducted online. Social media can\nalso be used to gauge reactions to products or services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another popular approach to business research is to place\nprofessional observers in a store or marketplace and watch shoppers are they go\nabout their business and select products to buy. This can highlight issues\nrelating to the way in which stock is displayed and how much attention it\nreceives and to how consumers behave when they take the product from the shelf.\nDiscerning at what point the product is chosen or rejected can be vitally\nimportant in unravelling how the consumer interacts with a product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Videoing consumers, observing them at events such as parties\nor asking them to keep journals are all valid business research methods for\ngathering information. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Analysis<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Once data has been gathered, efficient analysis is required in order to derive maximum benefit. This can be managed in a number of ways, from listing significant responses to coding frequent responses or responses of a particular kind. Data can be fed into a spreadsheet wherein there are categories for products, age groups and reactions. Organising the data should make it clearer to see how people react and to determine whether this is affected by factors such as age. Responses can also be incorporated into word clouds so that the most frequent responses are highlighted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Connecting with customers is clearly vital for business success. However, it is not always easy to know exactly who your customer is or what they are seeking. Research is important… Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":14295,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1596],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tips-and-tricks"],"yoast_head":"\nHow to use business research methods to understand your consumer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Connecting with customers is vital to business success, and here's how you can use business research methods to truely understand your customers.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.names.co.uk\/blog\/business-research-methods\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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