7 Things to Pursue Before New Market Research

As a market researcher, conducting new market research is typically NOT my first recommendation for answering a question.

There are multiple reasons for my reluctance to push the new market research button.

Chief among them is market research often asks respondents to speculate about what they might do relative to a product concept that may or may not exist, with a description that may or may not represent the concept accurately or in a way the respondent would actually perceive it.

Said simply, a helluva lot of market research is so speculative you can't use it nearly as definitively as you might like.

7 Things to Pursue Before Conducting New Market Research

Instead of jumping right to market research as the first option to get a sense of what your customers want or think, seek out:

1. Research reports and business articles from external sources related to your area of interest
2. Internal data that contains at least some of the component pieces for the answers you're seeking
3. Data based on actual customer behaviors in comparable situations
4. Experts (internal or external) with working hypotheses or models related to the topic under study
5. Previously conducted research that demonstrates methodological lessons you need to understand
6. Stronger reference points for the concept you want to test based on actual or virtual prototypes
7. Logic, strategy, and experience-based scenarios to frame the potential answers you should expect through primary research

This is just a starting point.

Pursuing the right strategic thinking before conducting new market research will get you better inputs and greater efficiency for your market research investment. – Mike Brown

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