Consumer research: Understanding the behavior of your target market
Consumer research consists of market research methods that help you uncover the wants, attitudes, and behavior of your target market. It generates the information you need to improve consumer perception of your product and create buyer personas and market segments—which help you successfully market your product to different types of customers.
What is consumer research?
Consumer research is used to describe the collection of data to get to know consumer opinions, preferences, buying behaviors, motivations, and needs. Consumer insights look at the wants and needs of your target market to explain why the market behaves the way it does.
Related reading: Why are surveys important in research?
Objectives of consumer research
Consumer research is conducted for a variety of reasons, but they all tie back to understanding what drives your target market.
Verify market need
Before you launch a product, it’s necessary to know who needs your product and why. You can find out when and where consumers buy items and how they use them. By verifying market requirements, you can ensure that you have all of the information you need to successfully bring your product to market.
Improve business offerings
Evaluate your potential products and services and compare them to those already in the market. Your product needs to fill a void or improve on what is currently available, so consumer research allows you to find those voids and call for improvement.
Boost sales
Investigate consumer psychology to understand more than just buying patterns. Explore the types of branding consumers resonate with, which colors they respond to, and other attributes that can influence sales.
Improve customer satisfaction
Consumer research can help lead to the satisfaction of the customers you already have. Take an in-depth look at your research results for ways to serve your current customers better with everything from your product offerings and features to store layout. Initiating actions based on consumer feedback will also ultimately result in increased loyalty of current customers.
Related reading: How to provide excellent customer service
Tap into a global survey audience
Our panel of trusted respondents is created from 335M+ people across more than 130 countries.
Importance of consumer research
At this point, you may ask, “Why is consumer research important?” Consumer research is the best way to get to the heart of what your potential customers want and to align your business strategy with what your customers need. You’re obtaining information directly from the people you want as customers. Not sure where to begin? Our market research solutions are a great place to start if you’re interested in getting to know your target market.
Business growth
Consumer research can give you an accurate view of how the market perceives your business, products, and services. It can also help you understand your competitors—what they’re doing well and not-so-well—so you can do things better and distinguish yourself from the competition!
Use consumer research to keep track of trends, set business goals, and implement successful marketing strategies. Having a deeper understanding of both your customers and your competitors will advise your business decisions, which ultimately leads to higher levels of customer satisfaction and retention, resulting in greater revenue and growth.