marketing research survey data

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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?

Why conduct market research, primary vs. secondary market research.

6 types of market research surveys

How to write and conduct a market research survey

Tips for running a market research survey.

Market research survey campaign example questions

Market research survey template

Use automation to put survey results into action

A market research survey is a questionnaire designed to collect key information about a company's target market and audience that will help guide business decisions about products and services, branding angles, and advertising campaigns.

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

Lots of this secondary information can be found in a public database like those maintained by the Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics . There are also a few free market research tools that you can use to access more detailed data, like Think with Google , Data USA , and Statista . Or, if you're looking to learn about your existing customer base, you can also use a CRM to automatically record key information about your customers each time they make a purchase.

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.

The first thing to figure out is what you're trying to learn, and from whom. Are you beta testing a new product or feature with existing users? Or are you looking to identify new customer personas for your marketers to target? There are a number of different ways to use a marketing research survey, and your choice will impact how you set up the questionnaire.

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.

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. 

Lots of this secondary information can be found in a public database like those maintained by the Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics . There are also a few free market research tools that you can use to access more detailed data, like Think with Google , Data USA , and Statista . 

Or, if you're looking to learn about your existing customer base, you can also use a CRM to automatically record key information about your customers each time they make a purchase.

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 or customer profile is a simple sketch of the types of people that you should be targeting as potential customers. 

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

The sales funnel is the path that potential customers take to eventually become buyers. It starts with the target's awareness of your product, then moves through stages of increasing interest until they ultimately make a purchase. 

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

What types of lead magnets are most attractive to your target audience

3. Customer loyalty research

Whenever you take a customer experience survey after you make a purchase, you'll usually see a few questions about whether you would recommend the company or a particular product to a friend. After you've identified your biggest brand advocates , you can look for persona patterns to determine what other customers are most likely to be similarly enthusiastic about your products. Use these surveys to learn:

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

Whereas the Charmin sketch features a marketing focus group, this one features new product research for a variety of new Hidden Valley Ranch flavors. Though you can't get hands-on feedback on new products when you're conducting a survey instead of an in-person meeting, you can survey your customers to find out:

What features they wish your product currently had

What other similar or related products they shop for

What they think of a particular product or feature idea

Running a survey before investing resources into developing a new offering will save you and the company a lot of time, money, and energy.

6. Competitor research

You can get a lot of information about your own customers and users via automatic data collection , but your competitors' customer base may not be made up of the same buyer personas that yours is. Survey your competitors' users to find out:

Your competitors ' customers' demographics, habits, and behaviors

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

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. 

You'll find dozens of question types and even pre-written questions in most survey apps . Here are a few common question types that work well for market surveys.

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.

Yes/No: The most basic survey question used in polls is the Yes/No question, which can be easily created using your survey app or by adding Yes/No options to a multiple-choice question. 

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

There are a lot of survey platforms to choose from, and they all offer different and unique features. Check out Zapier's list of the best online survey apps to help you decide.

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

Unless you're a trained data analyst, you should avoid crunching all but the simplest survey data by hand. Most survey platforms include some form of reporting dashboard that will handle things like population weighting for you, but you can also connect your survey platform to other apps that make it easy to keep track of your results and turn them into actionable insights.

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. 

Take advantage of existing resources: No need to reinvent the wheel. You may be able to use common templates and online survey platforms like SurveyMonkey for both survey creation and distribution. You can also use AI tools to create better surveys. For example, generative AI tools like ChatGPT can help you generate questions, while analytical AI tools can scan survey responses to help sort, tag, and report on them. Some survey apps have AI built into them already too.

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.

Define a margin of error: Your margin of error shows how much the survey results might differ from the real opinions of the entire group being studied. Since you can't possibly survey every single person in your desired population, you'll have to settle on an acceptable percentage of error upfront, a percentage figure that varies by sample size, sample proportion, and confidence interval. According to University of Wisconsin-Madison's Pamela Hunter , 95% is the industry standard confidence level (though small sample sizes may get by with 90%). At the 95% level, for example, an acceptable margin of error for a survey of 500 respondents would be 3%. That means that if 80% of respondents give a positive response to a question, the data shows that between 77-83% respond positively 95 out of 100 times.

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.

You're going to get a lot of responses back from your survey—why dig through them all manually if you don't have to? Automate your survey to aggregate information for you, so it's that much easier to uncover findings. 

Related reading:

Poll vs. survey: What is a survey and what are polls?

The best online survey apps

The best free form builders and survey tools

How to get people to take a survey

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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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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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.

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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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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.

Ready to learn more about Qualtrics?

Webinar ‘Praxis-Check Qualitätssicherung bei Online-Umfragen’

22.04.2024 11:00 - 11:45 UHR 

Market Research Surveys Guide with Examples

Market research surveys are a method of collecting data from a group of individuals to gain insights into their behaviors, attitudes, and preferences towards products or services. They are typically used by businesses to inform their marketing strategies and make informed decisions about their products or services.

Table of contents

What are Market Research Surveys?

Benefits of market research surveys, drawbacks of market research surveys, types of market research surveys.

• When to use Market Research Surveys
• Tips for writing good Market Research Surveys

Market research surveys are valuable for any business to understand its customers, competitors, and market trends. Collecting data directly from your target audience can gain valuable insights that inform your marketing strategy, product development, and overall business decisions.

However, creating and conducting effective market research surveys can be complex. From designing questions that accurately capture the information you need to analyzing and interpreting the data you collect, there are many factors to consider.

Market research surveys are surveys that businesses and organizations use to gather information about their target market, industry trends, and consumer behavior. These surveys can be conducted through various methods, such as phone surveys, online surveys, or in-person interviews. Here are some key features and uses of these surveys:

• Survey Design – These research surveys capture a range of information about the target market, such as demographic information, purchasing habits, product preferences, and opinions on marketing messages.
• Competitive Analysis – Market research surveys provide valuable insights into competitors’ strengths and weaknesses. Businesses can identify areas where they can differentiate themselves in the market by asking questions about competitors’ products, services, and marketing strategies.
• Product Development – These surveys inform product development by gathering feedback on product features, pricing, and packaging. By understanding the needs and preferences of their target market, businesses can develop products that meet customer needs and are more likely to succeed in the market.
• Branding and Marketing – Surveys help businesses refine their branding and marketing strategies. By gathering information on how customers perceive their brand and messaging, businesses can identify areas for improvement and develop more effective marketing campaigns.

Market research surveys are important for businesses and organizations looking to gather information about their target market and make data-driven decisions. By designing effective surveys and gathering accurate data, businesses can gain insights that can help them stay ahead of the competition, develop successful products, and refine their branding and marketing strategies.

Market research surveys offer a range of benefits for businesses and organizations looking to understand their target market and make data-driven decisions. Here are some of the key benefits of market research surveys:

• Insight into Customer Behavior Market surveys can give businesses valuable insights into customer behavior, such as purchasing habits, product usage, and opinions on marketing messages. This information can inform product development, pricing strategies, and marketing campaigns.
• Competitive Analysis This survey type can help businesses understand their competitors’ strengths and weaknesses. By gathering information on competitors’ products, services, and marketing strategies, businesses can identify areas where they can differentiate themselves in the market.
• Risk Reduction These research surveys can help businesses reduce the risk of launching new products or entering new markets. By conducting surveys before launching a product or expanding into a new market, businesses can gain insights into customer needs and preferences and make data-driven decisions that reduce the risk of failure.
• Improved Decision-Making Market research surveys can help businesses make more informed decisions by providing data-driven insights. Businesses can make better product development, pricing, marketing, and more decisions by gathering accurate information about customer behavior, market trends, and competitive landscapes.
• Increased Customer Satisfaction Surveys can help businesses improve customer satisfaction by gathering feedback on products and services. By addressing customer concerns and suggestions, businesses can improve their products and services and increase customer loyalty.

These surveys are important for businesses and organizations looking to understand their target market and make data-driven decisions. Businesses can reduce risk, improve decision-making, and increase customer satisfaction by gathering accurate information about customer behavior, market trends, and competitors.

Here are some of the key drawbacks of market research surveys:

• Cost Conducting surveys can be expensive, particularly if large sample sizes or specialized research methods are required.
• Sampling Bias These surveys are only as accurate as their sample. If the sample is not representative of the target market, the results may be biased and not reflect the true attitudes and behaviors of the target market.
• Respondent Bias Respondent bias can occur if survey respondents provide inaccurate or incomplete information, intentionally or unintentionally.
• Limited Scope Surveys may not capture the full range of consumer behavior factors. For example, surveys may not capture the influence of cultural or social factors on purchasing decisions.
• Timing The timing of these research surveys can also be a drawback. Conducting surveys at the wrong time may yield inaccurate results, as consumer attitudes and behaviors can change over time.

Market research surveys can provide valuable insights for businesses and organizations looking to understand their target market and make data-driven decisions. However, it is important to know potential drawbacks such as sampling and respondent bias, cost, and limited scope and to carefully design surveys to minimize these issues.

Market research surveys are important for businesses and organizations looking to gather information about their target market and make data-driven decisions. Here are some of the different types of research surveys that businesses may use:

• Online Surveys Online surveys are common market research surveys used today. These surveys can be delivered via email, social media, or a website. Online surveys are typically easy to distribute and can reach many people quickly. They are also cost-effective and can be designed to capture a wide range of information, including demographic data, product preferences, and opinions on marketing messages.
• Phone Surveys Phone surveys involve calling a sample of the target market and conducting a survey over the phone. Phone surveys can be used to gather detailed information and can be particularly effective for reaching older demographics who may not be as comfortable with online surveys. However, phone surveys can be more expensive than online surveys and time-consuming to administer.
• In-Person Surveys In-person surveys involve interviewing people face-to-face . These surveys can be conducted in various locations, such as at a retail store, in a public space, or at an event. In-person surveys can be particularly effective for capturing nuanced information and can be tailored to the target market’s specific needs. However, in-person surveys can be more expensive and time-consuming than other surveys.
• Mail Surveys Mail surveys involve sending a survey to a sample of the target market. These surveys can be particularly effective for reaching older demographics that may not be as comfortable with online surveys. Mail surveys can also be designed to capture detailed information and tailored to the target market’s specific needs. However, mail surveys can be more expensive than other types of surveys and can take longer to complete.
• Focus Groups Focus groups bring together a small group to discuss a specific topic. Focus groups can gather detailed information and effectively understand consumer attitudes and behaviors. However, focus groups can be more expensive than other surveys and may not represent the wider target market.
• Panel Studies Panel studies involve following people over time and gathering data regularly. Panel studies can be used to track changes in consumer behavior and can be particularly effective for understanding long-term trends. However, panel studies can be expensive and time-consuming to administer.

In conclusion, market research surveys are an important tool for businesses and organizations looking to gather information about their target market and make data-driven decisions. By understanding the research surveys available, businesses can select the most appropriate method to meet their research needs and capture accurate, valuable insights.

When to Use Market Research Surveys

Market research surveys can be a valuable tool for businesses and organizations looking to make data-driven decisions. Here are some situations where these surveys can be particularly useful:

• Launching a New Product or Service Before launching a new product or service, businesses may use market research surveys to gather feedback from their target market. It can help identify potential issues and areas for improvement before the product or service is launched.
• Testing Marketing Messages Market research surveys can be used to test marketing messages before they are launched, and they can help businesses identify the most effective messages and adjust their marketing strategy accordingly.
• Identifying Customer Needs and Preferences This survey type can gather information about customer needs and preferences. It can help businesses design products and services that meet the needs of their target market, improving customer satisfaction and loyalty.
• Assessing Customer Satisfaction Surveys can be used to assess customer satisfaction and identify areas for improvement. It can help businesses address customer concerns and improve the customer experience.
• Evaluating Brand Perception The surveys can be used to evaluate how customers perceive a brand. It can help businesses identify areas where their brand image may be weak and develop strategies to improve brand perception.

Quick Tips for Writing Good Market Research Surveys

Writing good market research surveys is crucial to obtaining accurate and valuable insights. Here are quick tips to help you write effective market surveys:

• Writing good market research surveys is crucial to obtaining accurate and valuable insights. Here are quick tips to help you write effective market research surveys:
• Use simple and easy-to-understand language in your survey. Avoid using technical jargon or complex language that may confuse respondents.
• Closed-ended questions, such as multiple-choice questions , are easier for respondents to answer and can help reduce survey fatigue.
• Organize your survey questions logically so that they make sense to the respondent.
• A double-barreled question asks two questions in one. Avoid these questions as they can confuse respondents and lead to inaccurate results.
• Provide clear and concise instructions on how to complete the survey. It can help reduce confusion and improve the accuracy of responses.
• Put yourself in the respondent’s shoes when writing the survey questions. Consider how the respondents perceive the questions and ensure they are relevant and easy to answer.
• Mix up the types of questions you use in your survey, including multiple-choice, rating scales, and open-ended questions . It can help keep respondents engaged and provide a variety of insights.
• Avoid asking questions that may lead respondents to a particular answer. It can bias the results of the survey.
• Before launching your survey, pilot-test it with a small group of respondents to identify any issues or areas for improvement.

By following these tips, you can increase the effectiveness of your market research surveys and obtain more accurate and valuable insights.

Market research surveys are essential for businesses and organizations looking to make data-driven decisions. By understanding the different types of surveys, their benefits and drawbacks, and best practices for writing effective surveys, businesses can gather valuable insights to inform their strategic decisions and improve performance.

What is the ideal sample size for a market research survey?

The ideal sample size for a market research survey depends on several factors, including the size of the target population, the margin of error, and the level of confidence desired. Generally, a larger sample size will result in more accurate data but may also be more expensive and time-consuming. It's important to consider the specific goals and budget of the research project when determining the appropriate sample size.

Can market research surveys be conducted online?

Yes, market research surveys can be conducted online through various survey platforms and tools. Online surveys offer several advantages, including faster response times, lower costs, and the ability to reach a larger and more diverse audience. However, online surveys also have limitations, such as potential bias due to self-selection and a lack of personal interaction with respondents. It's important to consider the pros and cons of online surveys when deciding on the best approach for a specific research project.

Related pages

All about polls.

Master the art of polling with our guide to writing effective poll questions. Learn best practices and get insights to create good polls.

Political Surveys

Political surveys can inform policymaking, campaigns, and media coverage by providing insights into public opinion on political issues.

Event Surveys

Learn to create effective event surveys with tips, examples, and best practices for gathering feedback from attendees.

Employee Feedback Surveys

Employee feedback surveys are a powerful tool for improving workplace culture. Learn the basics of creating a productive working environment.

Customer Satisfaction Surveys

Discover why customer satisfaction surveys are important, how to design and distribute them, and how to analyze and act on the results.

Academic Research Surveys

Design effective academic surveys: where to start & how to proceed ✚ benefits & drawbacks ► Discover the world of academic research surveys

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surveys | April 15, 2020

How to Create an Effective Market Research Survey

Daniel Ndukwu

A market research survey can help you engineer a successful product launch, grow your business, and keep your customers happy.

Without market research, it’ll feel like you’re stumbling in the dark and nothing you do yields the results you want.

Market research is essential whether you’re a billion-dollar organization or just started yesterday. It helps you avoid common pitfalls and gives you the confidence you need to execute your plans well.

In this guide, you’ll learn what a market research survey is and isn’t, how to create a compelling one, and multiple ways it can be used to improve your business.

Table of Contents

What is a market research survey

A market research survey is a process of gathering data from and about your target markets, analyzing the data, and drawing conclusions that can be used to launch products, improve services, or identify markets to enter.

You gather data that includes demographic information such as age and income, social norms, preferences, attitudes, and more. Together, these pieces of data allow you to form a clear picture of your customer segments and the market as a whole.

This data makes it easier for you to launch effective marketing campaigns (or outsource to a paid advertising agency ), choose the right markets, and serve existing customers.

You can outsource market research to a specialized organization or do it in-house. Though they’re referred to as simply “surveys,” it can take many different forms such as:

• Telephone interviews
• In-person interviews
• Focus groups
• Online surveys
• Offline questionnaire s

You can read this article to learn more about the different data collection methods at your disposal.

Types of market research

There are two major types of market research. The one you use will determine how much weight you can put in the data.

Primary research

Primary research is used to gather information that’s specific to a problem you have and is conducted by you. No one else has the data you gather and you’re the first person to use and analyze it. An example of primary research is sending out a customer satisfaction survey to your customers.

It’s more expensive than secondary research because you have to find participants, administer the survey, and analyze the data yourself.

Secondary research

Secondary research is used to gather general information that may or may not have an impact on your specific problems. Its information available through a third-party source that has been gathered and analyzed without your involvement.

Information is available online, in books, academic research, etc. The challenge with secondary research is sifting through all the information available to find the sources relevant to you.

Market research surveys should only be used after you’ve done secondary research and have an initial baseline. It’ll help you formulate better survey questions and focus on the information you can’t get elsewhere.

Creating an effective market research survey

A market research survey can appear deceptively simple. Just ask questions that’ll help you get insights into your problem. The challenge is what questions to ask and how to structure the survey for maximum responses.

Let’s look at the steps you should take.

Get clear on what the goal of the survey is

There are countless types of surveys and not every one of those ones will help you get to the end goal. For example, if you want to understand customer satisfaction then you’d avoid using an NPS survey because that measures loyalty.

Define the following things before you start crafting your survey.

• What problem(s) are you solving with the information? This will inform the kind of questions you ask and who you ask for feedback.
• Where will you use the data? Is it for the data analytics team, the marketing team, or the customer support team?
• How will you use the data? Will you combine it with other data sets or is it to be used alone? Will it be made public in some way?

The questions above are just a starting point. Expand the list with questions relevant to you until you’re crystal clear on the goal and scope of the survey.

Decide who you’ll survey beforehand

Now, it’ll be easier to decide who you should reach out to. For example, if you’re interested in researching a new product line, you may interview customers and non-customers who fit specific criteria. On the other hand, research focused on customer satisfaction would require recent customers.

Here are a few groups to consider when you’re thinking about who you’ll survey.

1.Customers

• Within the last month
• Within the last 6 months
• Customers who’ve not purchased within the last six months

2.Noncustomers

• Those who have heard about your brand
• Those who haven’t heard about your brand
• The people who came across your brand from specific places

3.Demographic groups

• Those with a specific job or work in certain industries
• People over or under a certain age
• Individuals in select geographic reasons

There are many considerations for choosing who’ll take your survey. When done properly, you’ll get clean data that’ll help you grow your brand. If you do it as an afterthought, the surveys may not get you the data you want.

Create a timeline for completion

This is an often overlooked aspect. People start creating survey questions, things crop up, and the survey is saved for later. In the end, it gets done too late or not at all.

A timeline allows you to plan what needs to be done and when it should be completed. This gives the entire project more clarity .

A timeline also helps in another way. You can ensure that the data you collect is timely and relevant. Many people underestimate the effort it’ll take to design, administer, and analyze survey data. In the end, the survey doesn’t have the impact it would’ve had if it was planned properly.

Pro-tip: consider using a solid PM tool to better plan your timeline and the tasks surrounding the market research survey.

Write out your initial questions

You just ask about what you need to know – right? Not exactly. You can only put a limited number of questions in your survey before people start to drop off. This phenomenon is called survey fatigue and the kind of questions you ask has an effect on this.

Let’s look at what questions you should consider asking.

The first question type is focused on understanding the characteristics of the respondent. The questions you ask here will depend on the goal of your survey but they may include demographic questions such as:

• When was the last time you purchased from us

These let you know who the person is and how much weight you should give their responses. Afterward, you’ll ask your most important questions. These can be open-ended or close ended questions . The type you choose depends on how much information you need and your understanding of the problem you want to solve.

For example, “how satisfied are you with our service today?” can be closed ended and have the following answer choices:

• Very satisfied
• Neither satisfied or dissatisfied
• Dissatisfied
• Very dissatisfied

Or, it can be open needed and allow the respondent to explain the way they feel about your service.

Once you’ve created the questions, it’s important to go back and edit them to make sure you’ve not accidentally added biases.

• Avoid leading statements such as “we’re considered the best restaurant in Atlanta. How was your experience today?”
• Remove questions that have an assumption built in like “how much your income increase this year?” The question assumes that income will increase.
• Replace questions that coerce people into answering a specific way. “Will you start exercising this year to stay healthy and reduce your risk of disease?” is a hard question to say no to.
• Watch out for one-sided scales. For example, strongly agree, agree, and disagree are missing an option. To balance the scale, you’d need “strongly disagree” as well.

I can’t name all the possible ways to inadvertently bias your questions so make sure you go through it with a critical eye. Consider sharing it with someone else so they can help you spot questions that bias the respondent.

Order your questions properly

Finally, you want to order your questions in a way that helps you get the maximum number of responses. Remember the survey fatigue I mentioned earlier? Reduce it by ordering your questions properly.

Here’s a simple way to make sure you have the optimal order and reduce certain response biases like the central tendency bias or the acquiescence bias.

Add demographic questions first

Demographic questions help you understand what kind of respondent you’re dealing with. This data makes it possible for you to categorize the data and make meaningful comparisons.

For example, you may want to figure out the perception of a new product line among customers and non-customers or different income levels. Demographic data makes that possible.

Even if people drop off towards the end of the survey, you’ll be able to use the information you do get to draw meaningful conclusions.

Close ended from simple to complex

After demographic data, start with simple or general closed ended questions that shed light on your problem. The survey software you use should allow you to randomize options so you can reduce the impact of showing the same answer first every time.

After the simple and general close ended questions, ask more difficult or complex ones. You may even decide to move into open-ended questions that require more thought to answer.

Open ended questions

The last type of question is open-ended. These require more effort on the part of the respondent because they need to formulate their own answers. It’s also more difficult for you to analyze because of the variability.

Because of this, it can cause users to drop off more than usual. Put them at the end. Even if people do close the survey at this point, you’ve gotten most of the information you need.

There’s an exception. If you’re doing a customer discovery survey then you want to put your single most important question “what’s your biggest challenge related to X?” right after your initial demographic question.

A market research survey – when used properly – can be a huge asset to your organization. The key is using it properly. Instead of throwing it together, follow the process outlined here to make sure it yields the results you’re looking for.

Clarify your goal, focus on a specific segment of your market, set a hard deadline, write out the questions you’ll need, and put them in the right order.

Let me know what you think about market research surveys in the comments and don’t forget to share.

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How to use market surveys to gather actionable insights

Last updated

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New to market surveys? Follow this guide to take the guesswork out of your next product or service launch with easy-to-build market surveys that will get you the data you need.

As one of the most effective research methods , many businesses use market surveys as their primary data collection tool. Whether your team is looking to improve existing client offerings or wants to redesign your current products or services, collecting market research will be an essential part of your project’s success.

Your team must facilitate regular market research to understand your target market. Covering everything you need to know, use this guide to get you started down the path of high-quality market research and insight collection. 

Let’s get into it!

• What are market surveys?

A market survey is a tool used to collect information and data from a set group of people. Often sent to existing customers, surveys for market research can help your team learn valuable information about your target audience and chosen market.

When used correctly, a market survey will provide your team with data and insights, including:

Demographic information of your top customers

The needs and wants of your target audience

Any pain points or issues with your current product or service

Competitor brands that your customers also use

Trends and information about your target market

Market research vs. marketing research

Despite sounding quite similar, market research and marketing research are two different terms:

Market research

As the primary subject of this article, market research is the practice of collecting and analyzing information from a specific target audience or customer base. It’s commonly done as part of UX research and gives the company better insights into the needs and wants of its customers. Market surveys are some of the most widely used tools to conduct this type of research.

Marketing research

Alternatively, marketing research focuses more on reporting on information specifically related to marketing efforts. This type of research is often focused on gaining insights about new or upcoming marketing messaging, campaign launches, and more. A/B testing packaging, surveying customers, and price trialing are examples of marketing research.

• The benefits of surveys for market research

Market surveys are popular across all industries due to their ease of use and efficient data collection capabilities. As your team begins to develop your market research strategy, here are a few reasons why you should consider using market surveys as part of your plan:

Gain insights for potential future products

Instead of blindly creating a new product or service that you think your customers will like, use market research surveys to create exactly what they’re looking for from the start.

Brand loyalty is built through trust and collaboration with your customers. By inviting them into the process (by getting them to share their experiences and preferences), your team not only gains direct feedback about how to move forward but also creates a sense of community and appreciation. 

Using open-ended questions as part of your market research surveys allows your customers to talk about their preferences, experiences, and desires for your brand. This allows their needs and concerns to be heard while providing you with a road map for future success. Talk about a win-win!

Analyze your competitors

Do you know where your brand measures up compared to other competitors in your industry? Learn why your customers choose you (and why others opt for your competitors) with well-crafted surveys for market research.

No matter the industry your company works within, there is always competition between different brands. Help your business stand out from the others by conducting regular market research about your target audience’s experiences—giving you great insights about where your offerings currently stand and what you can do to improve and better serve your customers.

Test your marketing efforts before the big launch

Don’t blow your marketing budget on a campaign that isn’t going to land with your target audience. Instead, top-performing teams use market research surveys to A/B test ideas and storylines within their marketing materials before the big launch—and the results are worth the extra effort!

Focus groups , customer interviews , and small-batch surveys are great ways to learn more about the effectiveness of your current marketing materials. When done currently, your market surveys will give you direct insights into the wording and phrasing used to convey their primary concerns (something that will go a long way for relatability while boosting your conversion rates). 

Everyone wants to be heard and understood—so use your market surveys to connect and listen to your target audience to enhance your next marketing campaign.

Create fresh content that connects

Creating high-quality content is hard—especially if you operate within a narrow niche. If your company uses content marketing to connect with its target audience, marketing surveys can be incredibly valuable. 

Instead of racking your brain to find content ideas that you think will resonate with your target audience, your team can use market surveys to get ideas, perspectives, and stories that can be turned into earnest and compelling content for your brand. 

Sending out a market survey asking for opinions or ideas for content is a surprisingly easy (and effective) way to build a winning content strategy—and we highly recommend adding it to your current marketing strategy!

Understand customer sentiment

How do your customer base and the general public feel about your brand? If you don’t have a clear answer to this question, you need to use well-crafted market surveys to find out.

The way your customers perceive your brand, products, and services has a dramatic impact on the success of your business. Customer sentiment analysis (which can be part of your market research strategy) is a great way to explore this topic—giving you direct insights into the experiences and sentiments about your offerings. Often sent after a purchase or speaking with a customer service representative, this type of market survey helps your team stay on top of your public image. 

If you start noticing an influx of negative reviews, you know it’s time to change. If your brand is well-loved, you need to focus on initiatives supporting and fostering this sentiment further. 

But, without market research surveys, your team will be unaware of customer sentiment, making all decisions reactionary and late rather than as part of your day-to-day decision-making process and strategy.

• Types of market surveys (with examples)

Now that we have explored the incredible value that market research surveys can bring to your team, let’s jump into some of the most common types of surveys used by businesses looking to learn more about their chosen market:

Market description surveys

Market description surveys determine the size and interests of a particular niche segment. When done correctly, market description surveys will give your team insights into the following:

Potential market growth

Existing competitors within the space

The core issues and problems this market is looking to address

Market description surveys are often sent out to a large number of participants to collect data from a wide range of sources. This type of survey is great to implement during the early stages of a new project, as you can use any of the feedback quickly to improve your business. 

Market segmentation surveys

Market segmentation surveys are created to learn more about the specifics of your target audience. Who are they, and who is not a part of this group, and why? What do they like, and what do they need now and into the future?  

By sending market segmentation surveys to your customers and target audience, your team will gain information about:

The different types of people within your chosen market

Market demographic, including age, geographic location, income and gender

Your customer’s primary wants and preferences

Your customer’s pain points and concerns

To create better quality products and services that resonate with your target audience, you first need to understand who they are. Using a market segmentation survey template from SurveyMonkey, your team will be able to segment your market into groups based on shared interests and preferences—allowing you to create more personalized and detailed offerings and marketing campaigns that will convert.

Purchase tracking surveys

Market research surveys can understand and track your customer’s purchase experience and habits. They can highlight each customer’s journey , from learning about your product to paying for your product or service. Purchase tracking surveys provide insights into:

How your customers became aware of your brand

The impact of marketing campaigns

Customer purchase behavior (including the likelihood of repurchase)

Pain points or barriers that prevent customers from buying

Understanding your customer’s path to purchase and experience with your brand is essential for long-term brand success. We recommend using the SurveyMonkey purchase tracking survey template to get started with effective customer purchase tracking research. 

Just adapt the questions to your specific customer base and set the survey to be sent a few days after a purchase—you will be blown away by the amount of information you can collect!

• Common market survey mistakes to avoid

Using the information and templates provided throughout this article, your team can now create and distribute market surveys to your customers and chosen market. To get the most out of your efforts (and to avoid mistakes that can diminish the value of your surveys), here are a few of our top market research survey mistakes you should avoid:

Choosing the wrong audience

No matter how well you write your market survey questions, if you send the content to the wrong group of people, you will not collect helpful information. 

To avoid this fate, spending extra time identifying your target audience can be helpful. Whether you do this through team brainstorming sessions, smaller custom research projects, or by segmenting your already existing target audience, these efforts will be tremendously helpful for getting accurate and nuanced insights from your surveys down the line.

Using the wrong sample size

The number of people you survey will significantly impact the quality and accuracy of the results you receive—and should be something your team is aware of before you even send out your first market research survey!

To determine what size of sample size will be best suited for your project, you first need to think about the type of information you are looking to collect:

Generalized market analysis

Broad-scoped research projects need a large number of participants to provide an accurate portrayal of your target audience. If your team wants to learn more about a new market, making sure you send and receive surveys from a large sample size will be essential. 

Collecting customer demographics and exploring purchasing behaviors are two examples of market research categories that require a larger sample size to give reliable results.

User experience

Alternatively, anecdotal and personalized information is often more beneficial when provided by a smaller (but high-quality) group of participants. Instead of collecting large amounts of vague information from a bigger group, interviewing or surveying a smaller group of qualified people can provide specific and detailed insights into the experiences of your top customers. 

Learning more about product or service pain points or exploring the reception to a new feature are examples of market research projects that can benefit from a smaller sample size.

Not optimizing survey send times

How (and when) you send your market research surveys to your target audience matters.

Demographic surveys can be sent to new subscribers, ideally during the workday, to prevent notification during the evening or at night. Ensure that your surveys get seen and completed by factoring in send time into your strategy. If you collect post-purchase data, send your survey after a recent purchase. 

Whenever you ask your customers to complete a survey, you’re asking for a favor. So, do your best to be appreciative and polite—and always avoid sending too much email spam!

Writing unclear survey questions

Possibly one of the most commonly made mistakes when beginning market research is writing confusing and non-specific questions for surveys.

The questions you choose to add to your survey should be intentional—meaning that they have gone through rounds of editing and prioritization to be clear and compelling to your audience while providing your team with insightful and specific data.

We highly recommend hosting a brainstorming session for potential survey questions with your team. After you have written out as many ideas and iterations for questions as you can, spend the time to rewrite, reorganize, and rate the strength of each question you want to include in your survey. Only the best of the best should make the cut—making your survey short, sweet, and impactful.

• Maximize your market research insights

Using this guide, we hope your team now understands the importance of market research on the success of your upcoming lunch or brand redesign. No matter the size of your company, taking the time to learn more about your chosen market will always improve your offerings—so we encourage you to get started as soon as possible!

But, once you get started, the fun has only just begun. Market surveys are an excellent tool for gathering information about your target audience—but how can you get the most out of the data you have collected?

A customer insights hub can give your team access to customer insights, no matter the type of data you want to collect and analyze. Made to store your market research data in an accessible and flexible way, use it to infuse customer insights seamlessly into your existing workflow.

We hope you found this guide helpful—now get out there and create high-quality market surveys!

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The Beginner’s Guide to Market Research Surveys

Kate william.

7 September 2023

Table Of Contents

• A Guide to Market Research Surveys
• An Overview
• Types of Market Research Surveys
• Tips and Tricks For You

Launching a product or service without conducting market research surveys can be an expensive mistake.

It’s not just about having the right product; it must also launch at the right time in the right location to reach its target audience. Just imagine Mark Zuckerberg writing an iconic book, “How to Become a Tech Billionaire” – targeting entry-level engineers.

Despite plenty of real-life cautionary tales , global spending on market research still topped 82.62 billion USD in 2022. These numbers show how important these surveys are for businesses worldwide.

In this blog, we will:

• Define a market research survey
• Explore 12 types of market surveys
• Understand the objectives of market research
• List 8 tips on how to do market research surveys

What is a Market Research Survey?

Market research surveys are an important tool used to gain insight into a product, service, or concept. Companies use market research surveys to get a better understanding of what their customers want and need.

Through marketing survey questions, they can assess the current demand in the market, and measure customer satisfaction with existing products and services.

Moreover, market surveys are also used to understand customer buying behavior and analyze the effectiveness of advertisements.

12 Types of Market Research

1. primary market research.

Primary market research is data collected directly from interviews and surveys with customers, stakeholders, and other relevant parties. This type of research helps companies make informed decisions about their products/ services.

2. Secondary Market Research

Secondary market research is a type of research that collects data from existing sources – such as government agencies, trade associations, or other organizations. This can be used to gain insights into an industry or customer base, and help businesses make informed decisions about their strategies and operations.

3. Qualitative Market Research

Qualitative market research uses non-quantifiable data such as feelings and opinions to gain insights into consumer attitudes, beliefs and motivations. This type of research is often used to identify unmet needs or new areas of opportunity for products and services.

4. Quantitative Market Research

Quantitative market research collects numerical data through surveys. It measures customer opinion to gain insights into customer behavior. This type of market research helps companies make informed decisions based on statistical analysis.

5. Target Market Research

Target market research aims to identify and understand specific customer segments. It helps companies develop marketing strategies that are tailored to the needs and preferences of their target audience.

6. Consumer Market Research

Consumer market research is a type of research that focuses on understanding the wants and needs of consumers. It helps companies make informed decisions regarding product design, pricing, positioning, and promotion strategies.

7. Medical Market Research

Medical market research is a type of market research that focuses on understanding the needs and preferences of healthcare professionals and patients. This helps healthcare professionals learn how to improve their services, and reach and retain more patients.

8. Product Market Research

Product market research is a type of market research that focuses on understanding the wants and needs of potential customers for a new product or service. It helps companies make decisions about product design, positioning, pricing, and promotion strategies to maximize its success.

9. Value Market Research

Value market research is a type of market research that focuses on understanding the perceived value of a product or service. It helps companies understand how much customers are willing to pay for a particular product or service, and also how their competitors’ offerings compare.

10. B2B Market Research

B2B market research is specifically focused on understanding the behaviors and preferences of businesses that purchase other businesses’ products or services. It gives insights on the customers, competitors, opportunities, and risks in a given industry.

11. Free Market Research

Free market research is a type of market research that does not require any form of payment. It uses free market research tools and can be conducted by businesses or individuals.

12. Paid Market Research

Paid market research is a type of market research that requires some form of payment, usually in the form of compensation or recognition. Participants are paid to take part in the study – which can include filling our surveys, research studies, online panel, etc.

To simplify your market research and gather valuable insights seamlessly, consider using a user-friendly platform such as SurveySparrow. You can engage your target audience, collect data and make informed decisions with ease. Try it out for free!

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What Are The Main Objectives of Market Research Surveys?

Business market research is a powerful tool – no matter what type of business you are in. Here’s what it aims to help you with:

• Learn about your customers, their expectations from you, and what your competitors do to keep ahead of you – or what they lack when compared with you.
• Discover new opportunities for your company.
• Survive if you are going through a bad phase. This because market research data can help you with strategic direction-setting.
• Identify potential risks when you’re preparing to launch a product or service.
• Understand your customer’s opinion, and take actionable steps toward a more positive perception.
• Project sales and plan ahead to help maximize profits.
• Predict trends in your niche and stay ahead of competitors.
• Track the performance of your new product or service – straight from the customer.
• Get unbiased, unfiltered feedback to establish an effective positioning strategy.

For a powerful edge in your product’s launch, consider arming yourself with the power of online marketing research . Here’s how to access valuable insights for success using an easy-to-follow framework.

8 Tips for Effective Market Research Surveys

Here are some best practices that are essential for gathering essential and valuable insights:

1. Have a clear survey objective

When launching your market research survey, it’s crucial that you have a strong idea of what success looks like. What is the desired outcome?

As an example, here is an outcome: “Know how much customers are willing to pay for my product.” Also, are customers more likely to opt for one-time purchases or subscriptions?

Knowing your end goal is essential in helping determine which market research tools and techniques will provide insight most efficiently. So collaborate with colleagues to zero in on 2-3 key objectives!

2. Decide who you are going to survey

Targeting your ideal customer is essential for success. To ensure you make the best use of resources, be specific about who it is that you are trying to reach – by collecting demographic data such as age, location and occupation. This will involve different types of initial market surveys, from primary to secondary market research.

This will help eliminate irrelevant respondents from different regions. If selling a product in North America, then those living in MENA need not apply!

Having an email list or having previously conducted surveys also means there’s already valuable data on-hand. This might just provide insight into what potential customers may look like.

3. Design your survey

When you know who to target, the next step is to design your survey in a way that is appealing and will elicit responses.

Carefully consider which kind of market research questions to ask, as well as the structure they should follow. Keeping the size of surveys to a minimum is also essential; less can often mean more in this context, inspiring better survey response rates .

If necessary, enlisting the help of market research software with ready-to-use templates can provide both structure and guidance. Make sure all relevant stakeholders review your questions before finalizing the survey and sending it out into the universe!

4. Make it conversational

It’s important to remember that successful businesses are built upon relationships, and this applies to customer interactions as well.

As you reach out to your customers, avoid being too transactional in your communications. Or else they may perceive you as only interested in taking from them, rather than forging a meaningful connection.

Using the right tone is key when engaging with customers. When writing emails and other communications with them, make sure it is conversational and natural – like how they would speak to family and friends.

Also include their names throughout any communication – this offers a sense of personalization that people appreciate. Is there something else you can do to show extra appreciation? If so, don’t hesitate to go the extra mile!

5. Use a mix of question types

Choosing the right scale to measure customer response requires careful consideration.

There are over 20 kinds of scales available, but they can be generally divided into two categories: comparative and non-comparative. Several popular scales include the Likert Scale, Graphic Rating Scale, Semantic Differential Scale and Side-by-Side Matrix.

It’s important to use multiple scales in surveys to get a wider range of feedback from respondents – rather than arbitrary choices made using just one scale. More perspectives help you conduct better analysis and make informed decisions based on collected data.

6. Provide incentives for responding to the survey

Ensuring you get the right responses to your surveys doesn’t have to be a daunting task.

Former customers may already be familiar with your product, so they can provide valuable insights. To encourage participation in your survey, provide incentives such as e-books, gift cards and expert advice.

Incentives give people an additional motivation to complete surveys, increasing the chance of meaningful feedback.

If crafted skilfully, a concise message can prompt even a novice to take your survey. Utilize an easy-to-click CTA button to guide your customer through.

Additionally, the subject line should be attention-grabbing and pique their interest. Applying these strategies will improve the rate of responses from potential customers.

Read more: 7 Tips To Enhance Your Survey Response Rate

7. Evaluate the research

Upon collecting data, it should be analyzed and organized in different formats such as charts, graphs, and tables. Doing so allows one to better interpret the information.

Various visual analytics tools like Tableau can help with this process. Additionally, analyzing the most common words used in text is another helpful technique.

To further strengthen your results, consider calling those who have filled out the survey. This approach will expose invaluable insight on what changes need to be made to optimize product usage.

Upon completing these steps, spreadsheets should be printed out for further studying. Furthermore, online market research surveys allow users to view preliminary results while the survey is still ongoing; this helps refine survey processes tremendously.

8. Create an action plan to work on the survey results

The survey results serve as a guide for structuring corporate actions and decision-making. Refer to your initial objectives, then develop actionable statements based on the survey data.

Increase user onboarding optimization, email sign-ups, and discovery call bookings incrementally – avoid making major alterations quickly or abruptly.

With proper implementation, these changes can lead to positive results in multiple areas of your business.

Wrapping Up

Conducting market research surveys does not have to be an expensive process. There are a variety of tools like SurveySparrow that can help with the entirety of the market research survey; from data collection and analysis to result compilation.

The reward for this process is getting a direct, first-hand account from customers about their expectations from your business.

Content Marketer at SurveySparrow

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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.

2. SWOT Analysis Template

Don't forget to share this post!

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• Knowledge Base

Methodology

• Survey Research | Definition, Examples & Methods

Survey Research | Definition, Examples & Methods

Published on August 20, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on June 22, 2023.

Survey research means collecting information about a group of people by asking them questions and analyzing the results. To conduct an effective survey, follow these six steps:

• Determine who will participate in the survey
• Decide the type of survey (mail, online, or in-person)
• Design the survey questions and layout
• Distribute the survey
• Analyze the responses
• Write up the results

Surveys are a flexible method of data collection that can be used in many different types of research .

Table of contents

What are surveys used for, step 1: define the population and sample, step 2: decide on the type of survey, step 3: design the survey questions, step 4: distribute the survey and collect responses, step 5: analyze the survey results, step 6: write up the survey results, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about surveys.

Surveys are used as a method of gathering data in many different fields. They are a good choice when you want to find out about the characteristics, preferences, opinions, or beliefs of a group of people.

Common uses of survey research include:

• Social research : investigating the experiences and characteristics of different social groups
• Market research : finding out what customers think about products, services, and companies
• Health research : collecting data from patients about symptoms and treatments
• Politics : measuring public opinion about parties and policies
• Psychology : researching personality traits, preferences and behaviours

Surveys can be used in both cross-sectional studies , where you collect data just once, and in longitudinal studies , where you survey the same sample several times over an extended period.

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

Before you start conducting survey research, you should already have a clear research question that defines what you want to find out. Based on this question, you need to determine exactly who you will target to participate in the survey.

Populations

The target population is the specific group of people that you want to find out about. This group can be very broad or relatively narrow. For example:

• The population of Brazil
• US college students
• Second-generation immigrants in the Netherlands
• Customers of a specific company aged 18-24
• British transgender women over the age of 50

Your survey should aim to produce results that can be generalized to the whole population. That means you need to carefully define exactly who you want to draw conclusions about.

Several common research biases can arise if your survey is not generalizable, particularly sampling bias and selection bias . The presence of these biases have serious repercussions for the validity of your results.

It’s rarely possible to survey the entire population of your research – it would be very difficult to get a response from every person in Brazil or every college student in the US. Instead, you will usually survey a sample from the population.

The sample size depends on how big the population is. You can use an online sample calculator to work out how many responses you need.

There are many sampling methods that allow you to generalize to broad populations. In general, though, the sample should aim to be representative of the population as a whole. The larger and more representative your sample, the more valid your conclusions. Again, beware of various types of sampling bias as you design your sample, particularly self-selection bias , nonresponse bias , undercoverage bias , and survivorship bias .

There are two main types of survey:

• A questionnaire , where a list of questions is distributed by mail, online or in person, and respondents fill it out themselves.
• An interview , where the researcher asks a set of questions by phone or in person and records the responses.

Which type you choose depends on the sample size and location, as well as the focus of the research.

Questionnaires

Sending out a paper survey by mail is a common method of gathering demographic information (for example, in a government census of the population).

• You can easily access a large sample.
• You have some control over who is included in the sample (e.g. residents of a specific region).
• The response rate is often low, and at risk for biases like self-selection bias .

Online surveys are a popular choice for students doing dissertation research , due to the low cost and flexibility of this method. There are many online tools available for constructing surveys, such as SurveyMonkey and Google Forms .

• You can quickly access a large sample without constraints on time or location.
• The data is easy to process and analyze.
• The anonymity and accessibility of online surveys mean you have less control over who responds, which can lead to biases like self-selection bias .

If your research focuses on a specific location, you can distribute a written questionnaire to be completed by respondents on the spot. For example, you could approach the customers of a shopping mall or ask all students to complete a questionnaire at the end of a class.

• You can screen respondents to make sure only people in the target population are included in the sample.
• You can collect time- and location-specific data (e.g. the opinions of a store’s weekday customers).
• The sample size will be smaller, so this method is less suitable for collecting data on broad populations and is at risk for sampling bias .

Oral interviews are a useful method for smaller sample sizes. They allow you to gather more in-depth information on people’s opinions and preferences. You can conduct interviews by phone or in person.

• You have personal contact with respondents, so you know exactly who will be included in the sample in advance.
• You can clarify questions and ask for follow-up information when necessary.
• The lack of anonymity may cause respondents to answer less honestly, and there is more risk of researcher bias.

Like questionnaires, interviews can be used to collect quantitative data: the researcher records each response as a category or rating and statistically analyzes the results. But they are more commonly used to collect qualitative data : the interviewees’ full responses are transcribed and analyzed individually to gain a richer understanding of their opinions and feelings.

Next, you need to decide which questions you will ask and how you will ask them. It’s important to consider:

• The type of questions
• The content of the questions
• The phrasing of the questions
• The ordering and layout of the survey

Open-ended vs closed-ended questions

There are two main forms of survey questions: open-ended and closed-ended. Many surveys use a combination of both.

Closed-ended questions give the respondent a predetermined set of answers to choose from. A closed-ended question can include:

• A binary answer (e.g. yes/no or agree/disagree )
• A scale (e.g. a Likert scale with five points ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree )
• A list of options with a single answer possible (e.g. age categories)
• A list of options with multiple answers possible (e.g. leisure interests)

Closed-ended questions are best for quantitative research . They provide you with numerical data that can be statistically analyzed to find patterns, trends, and correlations .

Open-ended questions are best for qualitative research. This type of question has no predetermined answers to choose from. Instead, the respondent answers in their own words.

Open questions are most common in interviews, but you can also use them in questionnaires. They are often useful as follow-up questions to ask for more detailed explanations of responses to the closed questions.

The content of the survey questions

To ensure the validity and reliability of your results, you need to carefully consider each question in the survey. All questions should be narrowly focused with enough context for the respondent to answer accurately. Avoid questions that are not directly relevant to the survey’s purpose.

When constructing closed-ended questions, ensure that the options cover all possibilities. If you include a list of options that isn’t exhaustive, you can add an “other” field.

Phrasing the survey questions

In terms of language, the survey questions should be as clear and precise as possible. Tailor the questions to your target population, keeping in mind their level of knowledge of the topic. Avoid jargon or industry-specific terminology.

Survey questions are at risk for biases like social desirability bias , the Hawthorne effect , or demand characteristics . It’s critical to use language that respondents will easily understand, and avoid words with vague or ambiguous meanings. Make sure your questions are phrased neutrally, with no indication that you’d prefer a particular answer or emotion.

Ordering the survey questions

The questions should be arranged in a logical order. Start with easy, non-sensitive, closed-ended questions that will encourage the respondent to continue.

If the survey covers several different topics or themes, group together related questions. You can divide a questionnaire into sections to help respondents understand what is being asked in each part.

If a question refers back to or depends on the answer to a previous question, they should be placed directly next to one another.

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Before you start, create a clear plan for where, when, how, and with whom you will conduct the survey. Determine in advance how many responses you require and how you will gain access to the sample.

When you are satisfied that you have created a strong research design suitable for answering your research questions, you can conduct the survey through your method of choice – by mail, online, or in person.

There are many methods of analyzing the results of your survey. First you have to process the data, usually with the help of a computer program to sort all the responses. You should also clean the data by removing incomplete or incorrectly completed responses.

If you asked open-ended questions, you will have to code the responses by assigning labels to each response and organizing them into categories or themes. You can also use more qualitative methods, such as thematic analysis , which is especially suitable for analyzing interviews.

Statistical analysis is usually conducted using programs like SPSS or Stata. The same set of survey data can be subject to many analyses.

Finally, when you have collected and analyzed all the necessary data, you will write it up as part of your thesis, dissertation , or research paper .

In the methodology section, you describe exactly how you conducted the survey. You should explain the types of questions you used, the sampling method, when and where the survey took place, and the response rate. You can include the full questionnaire as an appendix and refer to it in the text if relevant.

Then introduce the analysis by describing how you prepared the data and the statistical methods you used to analyze it. In the results section, you summarize the key results from your analysis.

In the discussion and conclusion , you give your explanations and interpretations of these results, answer your research question, and reflect on the implications and limitations of the research.

If you want to know more about statistics , methodology , or research bias , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

• Student’s  t -distribution
• Normal distribution
• Null and Alternative Hypotheses
• Chi square tests
• Confidence interval
• Quartiles & Quantiles
• Cluster sampling
• Stratified sampling
• Data cleansing
• Reproducibility vs Replicability
• Peer review
• Prospective cohort study

Research bias

• Implicit bias
• Cognitive bias
• Placebo effect
• Hawthorne effect
• Hindsight bias
• Affect heuristic
• Social desirability bias

A questionnaire is a data collection tool or instrument, while a survey is an overarching research method that involves collecting and analyzing data from people using questionnaires.

A Likert scale is a rating scale that quantitatively assesses opinions, attitudes, or behaviors. It is made up of 4 or more questions that measure a single attitude or trait when response scores are combined.

To use a Likert scale in a survey , you present participants with Likert-type questions or statements, and a continuum of items, usually with 5 or 7 possible responses, to capture their degree of agreement.

Individual Likert-type questions are generally considered ordinal data , because the items have clear rank order, but don’t have an even distribution.

Overall Likert scale scores are sometimes treated as interval data. These scores are considered to have directionality and even spacing between them.

The type of data determines what statistical tests you should use to analyze your data.

The priorities of a research design can vary depending on the field, but you usually have to specify:

• Your research questions and/or hypotheses
• Your overall approach (e.g., qualitative or quantitative )
• The type of design you’re using (e.g., a survey , experiment , or case study )
• Your sampling methods or criteria for selecting subjects
• Your data collection methods (e.g., questionnaires , observations)
• Your data collection procedures (e.g., operationalization , timing and data management)
• Your data analysis methods (e.g., statistical tests  or thematic analysis )

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

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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 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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Marketing Research Survey: What Is It & Why Is It Important?

• Ossian Muscad
• November 8, 2022
• No Comments

Last Updated on November 8, 2022 by Ossian Muscad

Most people think marketing research involves focus groups, surveys, and interviews. However, marketing research is a broad term that can encompass several different activities. Marketing research aims to collect data that will help a company understand its customers and the market in which it operates. This data can then be used to make informed decisions about product development, marketing strategy, and other aspects of the business.

You may wonder how to get started if you’ve yet to conduct marketing research for your business. This guide will explain marketing research and provide a step-by-step guide to conducting a market research survey.

What is Marketing Research?

Marketing research is a process that involves collecting and analyzing data about a target market. Marketing research aims to provide businesses with information that can be used to make marketing decisions. With the data gathered, businesses can better understand their customers and the market in which they operate.

What is a Market Research Survey?

A market research survey is a tool businesses use to collect data about their target market. Surveys can be used to collect data about customer needs, preferences, and behavior. They can also be used to gather data about the marketing mix, including price, product, place, and promotion.

Market research surveys are essential for businesses that want to make informed marketing decisions. By conducting a survey, businesses can gather data about their target market and use that data to make decisions about product development, marketing strategy, and other aspects of their business.

Benefits of Using Market Research Surveys

There are many benefits to using market research surveys. Surveys can help businesses:

Understand Their Customers and Their Needs

It’s important for businesses to understand their customers and what they need and want. Surveys can help businesses gather data about their target market’s needs, preferences, and behavior. With this information, businesses can make informed product development and marketing strategy decisions.

Make Informed Marketing Decisions

As we mentioned, surveys can help businesses gather data about the marketing mix. With this information, businesses can make informed pricing, product development, place, and promotion decisions.

Make Accurate Analysis

Market research surveys can help businesses gather accurate data. This data can then be used to make accurate marketing decisions. Since surveys can gather data about customer needs and preferences, businesses can ensure that their marketing efforts are targeting the right people.

Different Kinds of Market Research Surveys

Companies use market research surveys to gather important marketing information of different types. The one you will use will depend on the objective of the market research. Therefore, marketers must understand the different types of surveys before marketing research. With that said, here are some of the most common types of market research surveys:

• Marketing investigation survey: this type of marketing research survey helps identify crucial information about the growth of the target market to execute competitor analysis.
• Customer retention survey: This marketing research survey is conducted to know why customers no longer patronize a company’s products or services. 
• Sales analysis survey: this marketing research survey aids in understanding the behavior of customers when they purchase a product or service.
• New product demand survey: this marketing research survey is used to know if there is a potential market for a new product or service.
• Customer profiling survey: this marketing research survey is used to create a profile of the target market.
• Segmentation market research survey: this marketing research survey determines how a market can be segmented.
• Product development survey: this marketing research survey is conducted to know what features customers want in a product.

How to Conduct a Market Research Survey

Now that you know the different types of marketing research surveys, it’s time to learn how to conduct one. Here are the steps to consider:

Define Your Research Objective

Before conducting a market research survey, you must define your research objective. What do you want to achieve? Once you have a clear research objective, you can proceed to the next step.

Choose the Type of Survey You Will Use

As we mentioned earlier, there are different types of market research surveys. Choose the one that best fits your research objective.

Draft Your Questionnaire

After choosing the type of survey you will use, it’s time to draft your questionnaire. This is one of the most important steps in conducting a market research survey because the questions you will ask will determine the survey’s success. Make sure to ask questions relevant to your research objective, and your target respondents can answer that.

Choose Your Target Respondents

Who do you want to answer your marketing research survey? Choose your target respondents wisely. Keep in mind that not all people are willing to answer marketing research surveys. To increase your chances of getting responses, you can offer incentives to those who will answer your survey.

Conduct the Survey

Once you have chosen your target respondents, it’s time to conduct the survey. You can do this in different ways. You can do it online, through the phone, or in person.

Analyze the Results

After conducting the survey, it’s time to analyze the results. This is where you will see if the marketing research survey successfully achieved its objective. Look at the data and see if you can find any patterns or trends.

Create a Report

After analyzing the survey results, you need to create a report. This report will serve as a guide in making marketing decisions. Therefore, it should be concise and easy to understand.

Present the Findings

Once you have created the report, it’s time to present the findings to your boss or client. Again, make sure to present the findings in a way that is easy to understand.

Conduct Market Research Surveys with DATAMYTE

The best way to ensure an effective and successful marketing survey is to use a reliable platform like DATAMYTE . With DATAMYTE and its Digital Clipboard, you can create entire workflows and useful tools for marketing surveys.

The DataMyte Digital Clipboard is a powerful workflow automation software that enables you to create and conduct marketing surveys. In addition, it features a smart form builder and a checklist builder, both of which are relevant tools for creating marketing surveys.

With the DataMyte Digital Clipboard, you can create marketing surveys that are both effective and efficient. In addition, you can easily add or remove questions from your marketing survey using its drag-and-drop interface.

Once your surveys and checklists are complete, you can send them to the field staff with the click of a button. The DataMyte Digital Clipboard also allows you to track and manage survey results in real-time so that you can make necessary adjustments to your marketing strategy.

With the DataMyte Digital Clipboard, you have an all-in-one solution for creating and conducting marketing research surveys and reports. Book a demo today and see how the DataMyte Digital Clipboard can help you streamline your marketing survey process. 

Creating a marketing survey report doesn’t have to be difficult. Just follow the steps we outlined above, and you’ll be on your way to creating a successful marketing survey report. Make sure to include all the key information your boss or client needs. And don’t forget to present the findings in an easy-to-understand way. 

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Market Research Surveys: Sample Questions + Template

Sample Questions

• Creation Tips
• Types of Data
• Employee Feedback
• Creating the Survey
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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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Home Market Research

Marketing research: Definition, steps, uses & advantages

What is marketing research?

Marketing research is defined as any technique or a set of practices that companies use to collect information to understand their target market better. Organizations use this data to improve their products, enhance their UX, and offer a better product to their customers. Marketing research is used to determine what the customers want, and how they react to products or features of a product.

Gather research insights

Four standard marketing research methods

The four most common marketing research methods are surveys, interviews, customer observations, and focus groups. You can research various ways without limiting yourself to just one way. Let’s dive deeper into each of these marketing research techniques.

Researchers collect responses by deploying surveys and managing data via online questionnaires or on-screen surveys at the POS. These surveys contain closed-ended and open-ended questions. They are popular and are the most widely used research techniques.

Why are online surveys popular?

Surveys are inexpensive, simple to set-up, deploy, and gather responses. It gets easy to collect multiple answers from a tailored audience group using surveys. Researchers rely on quantitative data, and online surveys provide quick responses compared to the more traditional offline methods. You can collect large amounts of data within minutes from anywhere in the world.

2. Interviews

Face-to-face or personal interviews are a more traditional way of doing marketing research. It is a slow and more expensive way of collecting responses. Researchers doing large scale marketing research do not prefer this method to collect a large number of responses. Interviews are conducted both in-person and on the telephone (CATI). 

Why are interviews important?

Personal interviews may not be widely used but play a significant role in understanding precisely what the respondent feels. You can record more than just verbal responses and understand the customer better. Often, when two humans interact with each other, more information is shared because of the dialogue. Personal interviews are useful in small-scale studies, where the researcher wants to interview a specific group of local respondents. CATI’s are helpful when the respondent base is more expansive.

3. Focus groups

Focus groups or online focus groups involve several respondents who participate in discussions about a particular topic. A researcher conducts focus groups to obtain richer information. The main reason for a focus group is to hold a dialogue between various people on a particular topic of interest. Unlike interviews, focus group members are allowed to interact with each other and influence one another.

Why are focus groups impactful?

It is no secret that focus groups are hugely impactful in decision making. Researchers gain a lot of information by organizing focus groups. Often, focus groups bring up issues not foreseen by researchers. Online or video focus groups have a broad reach, and many organizations have now started creating and nurturing research communities for better respondent handling and data gathering. Direct interaction of business groups and customers positively impacts users because they feel that their voices are heard.

4. Observation

Observation, though not popular and widely used, gives intuitive feedback. Research companies organize customer observation sessions to gather information on how they engage with the product or service (or a similar competitor product or service). Feedback from people’s behavioral attitudes is a powerful tool for researchers looking to improve their products and services.

What makes observation so powerful?

Observational market research is an excellent alternative to focus groups. It’s not only an inexpensive research tool, but you will also witness people interacting with and using your product in a natural environment. The downside is that you will have to make inferences about their feelings and reactions.

LEARN ABOUT: market research trends

How to conduct marketing research

Follow these four marketing research steps to help you understand what your users think and feel about your product, service, or business.

LEARN ABOUT: Behavioral Research

1. Create simple user personas

A user persona is nothing more than a fictional character that represents a user or a customer. Understanding user personas will help you gauge how different persons react to other products and services to understand their needs. To create a persona, your questions must answer these types questions about the user or customer:

• Who are they?
• What’s their primary goal?
• What stops them from achieving that goal?

2. Conduct observational research

Use both overt and covert observation methods to observe and take notes while users use your products or a similar one.

Overt vs. covert observation

• Overt observation asks users if they will allow you to watch them use your product. 
• Covert observation studies users in a natural environment without them knowing. This type of observation generally works only if you sell a product that consumers buy and use regularly. It brings in the purest observational research data as people act naturally while using the products. 

3. Conduct personal interviews

One-on-one conversations with your target population allow you to explore and dig deep into their concerns, revealing answers to many questions. Here are a few tips for conducting personal interviews.

• Be a journalist and not a salesperson. Ask users about their frustrations, needs, and areas where they think they need an improvement in the product. 
• Pose the ‘why’ question to dig deeper. Dive into the details to know more about their past behavior.
• Recording the conversation helps you focus on it rather than take notes simultaneously.

4. Analyze the data

The idea of conducting lean marketing research is to receive quick, actionable insight data. Analyze the information you have collected using various techniques to draw patterns into what customers like and dislike, what they want, and what they do not need. Create a simple visual representation of how people will interact with each other and the product to assess their needs in a better way.

LEARN ABOUT: Marketing Insight

Why is research so valuable?

Without research, it is impossible to gauge and understand your customers. Of course, you will have an idea of what they need and who they are and, but you must dive deeper to win their loyalty. Here is why marketing research matters:

• Attract potential customers: The primary aim of marketing research is to find ways to attract potential customers. It also helps to keep current happy and coming back for more. Understanding your customers entirely is the only way to progress. You’ll lose potential customers if you stop caring about improving your user experience.
• Answer the why’s: Marketing research gives you the answer to the ‘why.’ Make use of user analytics, big data, and reporting dashboards in marketing research to tell you what your users are thinking and why they think and act that way. For example, only marketing research can explain why customers leave you.
• Data-backed decisions: Research beats trends, assumptions, and so-called best business practices. Bad decisions are often taken due to emotional reasoning and guesswork. Focusing on customer experience by listening to your customers directs you in the right direction.
• Better planning: Research keeps you from making absurd decisions by planning in a vacuum. You might not fully gauge what your customers experience and feel while using your product. Customers may use products in a way that surprises you, and they may get confused by features that seem obvious to you. Conducting too much planning but not testing your assumptions will waste your money, time, efforts, and resources. Research helps you save up on all these factors.

LEARN ABOUT: 12 Best Tools for Researchers

Advantages of MKT research

Marketing research and user experience (UX) design help you continuously improve your product by acting on your feedback. Here are the advantages of conducting marketing research:

• Improved efficiency: Efficiency draws you closer to your users. You can improve the efficiency of delivering the product to the market and also increase its usability.
• Cost-effective: Marketing research helps you make the right decisions based on consumer demand, thus saving you costs in creating something that customers do not like or want.

LEARN ABOUT:  Test Market Demand

• Competitive edge: Quicker, more robust insights can help you place your services and products strategically, gaining a competitive advantage over others.
• Build strategies: You can quickly build, alter, or design new approaches to attract your users and consumers.
• Improved communication: Bridge the communication gap by interacting with consumers and hearing them out. This helps consumers feel wanted and special.
• LEARN ABOUT: Market research vs marketing research

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• 50+ Must-ask questions for your market research surveys

Şeyma Beyazçiçek

Market research is an essential part of finding answers to your questions. For this reason, market research surveys have a big importance. So, market study survey questions, too . These types of questions help you get essential data about the target audience, conduct competitive analysis, get new ones, or protect existing customers .

We have gathered the most essential data to help you gather information on the target market or target customer. In this article, you will find 50+ market research survey questions and examples about customers, products, social media, etc. You need to seriously consider these business survey questions for market research and learn more!

• What is a market research survey?

A market research survey is a document that asks demographic questions or any type of market research questions that aim to collect vital customer feedback to make you better in marketing . The critical point of a market research survey is to learn customer experience and make marketing plans according to it.

A report by Statista shows that since 2008 , the market research sector’s global revenue has increased by more than twice, surpassing $81 billion in 2022 . So, the importance of market research is getting more realized, and you need market analysis survey questions. Good survey questions for market research collect data to help you create definite strategies for a better marketing plan.

• 50+ Market research survey questions you must ask in your surveys

Each company has its own unique priorities and needs. For this reason, companies should choose questions carefully for their survey. 50+ market research survey questions might differ according to the needs and requirements of a company. Nevertheless, we have gathered the most essential and basic ones to make you grow faster. 

If you want to access all these privileges we have discussed so far, you need to have a look at these 50+ must-ask questions for your market research surveys:

Customer survey questions for market research questions

The primary reason for selling a product or service is for customers . Finding the target audience for your company is one of the most important parts of your market research survey. For that reason, you need to have a look at these customer survey questions for market research questions: 

1. How often do you shop from us?

• Once a week
• Twice a week
• Once a month
• Twice a month
• Once every two months
• Once every three months
• Once every six months
• Once a year

2. What is your favorite product/service?

3. What is your least favorite product/service?

4. Why do you choose us?

• Your reputation for quality products and services
• Your competitive pricing
• Your commitment to customer service
• Your convenient location
• Your wide selection of products and services
• Your knowledgeable staff
• Your experience in the industry
• Your commitment to innovation
• Your commitment to sustainability

5. Would you recommend us to your friends/family?

6. Since when do you choose us?

• Two Years Ago
• Three Years Ago

7. Overall, from 1-10, how do you rate us?

An opinion scale question example about satisfaction

Market research questions for a product

A market research question for a product is an excellent helper for companies to understand and collect data about existing. If you want to learn how your customers are satisfied with your exciting product, you only need to ask them these questions. Here are your market research questions for a product: 

8. Have you ever heard of this product before?

9. From 1-10, how would you rate this product?

10. Do you believe this product is useful/helpful for you? 

11. What is the likelihood of buying this product again?

• Very Likely
• Very Unlikely

12. What do you like about this product?

• It is easy to use
• It is cost-effective
• It is reliable
• It has great customer service
• It has a wide range of features

13. What do you dislike about this product?

• Functionality

14. Would you recommend this product to your friends or family?

You can replace the word “ product”  with the name of your own product.

A question example about purchasing behavior

New product market research survey questions

New product market research survey questions are perfect for your company if you plan for a new product. Imagine that you are about to launch a new product. You can take fewer risks if you ask questions about the new product before launching it. So you might need these market research questionnaire questions for your new product: 

15. Have you seen a similar product? 

16. How likely are you to use this product for your business activities?

17. What do you think is the best feature of this new product?

18. What do you think is the least favorite feature of this new product?

19. Do you find the price reasonable?

20. Are you excited about this product?

21. Overall, from 1-10, how do you rate this new product?

A question example about later use

Social media survey questions for market research

Social media is an excellent way of collecting helpful data from your customers because, today, nearly everybody has a social media account. You can have insightful data as long as you know which platform to use and how to use it. So, here are your social media survey questions for market research: 

22. Which social media platforms do you use? ( you can choose more than 1 )

23. In which social media platforms do you spend time the most?

24. Do you follow us on your social media accounts?

25. What do you think about our company’s social media account? 

• It's great!
• It could use some improvement.
• I haven't seen it

26. Do you believe we can use social media effectively?

27. What can we do to improve our social media accounts?

• Post regularly
• Run contests and giveaways
• Use relevant hashtags
• Optimize profile information
• Respond to comments
• Collaborate with influencers

28. Which influencers do you relate to us the most?

A market research survey question example about social media

Market research questions to ask potential customers

As much as trying to hold your existing customers, you should also try to find potential customers and expand your network. Because only in this way you can grow your business. When you have good market research questions to ask potential customers, as given below, you can easily get what you need: 

29. Have you ever heard us before?

30. When you think of our brand, what comes to your mind first? 

31. Who is our rival for you?

32. What is your minimum budget?

33. What is your maximum budget?

34. Would you consider choosing our product/service?

35. What are your best aspects, you think?

Market research questions for B2B companies

Just like any sector, B2B companies need to do their best to run market research. As for their market research survey, the questions will be different because they need to aim at businesses directly. If you need them, here are your market research questions for B2B companies: 

36 . Who is your ideal customer?

37. What really matters to your ideal customer?  

38. Do you think you know your customers?

39. How can you know your customers better?

40. What is your customers’ annual income? 

41. What do your customers do in their free time?

42. What attracts your customer?

Demographic questions for your market research survey

Demographic questions allow your company to understand your customer’s background better. Also, if you want to understand the certain characteristics of your target audience, demographic questions are the best option for you. Have a look at these demographic questions for your market research survey: 

43. What gender do you identify as?

• Genderfluid

44. How old are you?

• 65 or Above

45. What is your marital status?

46. Can you please specify your ethnicity?

• African American
• Asian American
• Hispanic/Latino
• Native American
• Pacific Islander
• White/Caucasian

47. Where are you located?

• United States
• United Kingdom

48. What is your education level?

• High School
• Associate's Degree
• Bachelor's Degree
• Master's Degree
• Doctorate Degree

49. What is your annual income?

• $0 - $25,000
• $25,001 - $50,000
• $50,001 - $75,000
• $75,001 - $100,000
• $100,001 - $150,000
• $150,001 - $200,000
• $200,001 and above

50. What is your current employment situation? 

• Employed full-time
• Employed part-time
• Self-employed
• Not looking for work

A market research survey question example about income

• How can I create a market research survey?

In order to collect essential data for your market research, if you want to handle it the fastest way, you will need an online form builder. Also, if you want to build your form with lots of options and create just like you wish and want to do all of them for free, there is only one option left: forms.app .

As long as you follow some basic steps, you can easily create your market research survey and here are the steps: 

1. Login or create an account

Firstly, you should log in to your existing account if you do not have one; no worries, you can easily and quickly create an account . Also, do not forget that you have the opportunity to log in via Google, Facebook, and Apple accounts. 

2. Start from scratch, choose a temple, or generate with AI

You have access to a wide range of options thanks to forms.app . You must begin from scratch if you wish to pick every aspect of your survey. The site offers pre-made market research survey templates if you do not want to spend too much time on it. However, if you stay current with the latest technology, artificial intelligence can create your survey in seconds!

3. Add your market research survey questions

Based on your company’s primary needs and essential requirements, you should choose your market research survey questions very carefully. Each company’s priorities can differ. For that reason, you need to pay attention while adding them. 

4. Customize your survey form

In this step, you can easily change and personalize your online survey . To give an example, you can change the size and type of the font, colors, and order of questions, add your brand’s logo, etc. 

5. Share your market research survey

In the final step, you can share your survey with your target via many platforms . You can choose the link to be public, limited, or private while sharing. Additionally, you can preview the link to see whether it has any meta titles, descriptions, or images. 

• How can I write good market research questions?

One can randomly create market research questions for the survey; however, if you want to be one step ahead of your rivals and be good at writing market research questions, you need to follow the points given below:

• Consider your company’s needs : You need to have a moment and consider what your company needs the most. What are your priorities or urgent needs? Or what are your urgent deficiencies to be covered? After answering these questions, you can create better questions. 
• Think like the customer: The key point is listening to your customers and trying to think like them. When you think like them, you can come up with better market research questions and collect more valuable data for your survey. 
• Be direct: Questions asked directly are definitely better , instead of asking too many indirect questions or long and complex sentences that might be confusing. So, you need to pay attention at this point. 
• Key points to take away

As we have discussed so far, the importance of market research is undeniable. If you want to increase your market share and be more successful in your sector, there are some key points for your company to take away. You should not ignore these points:

• Design of the survey: Do not forget that the more you pay attention to your market research survey design, the more you will seem professional. 
• Pay attention to the context: Design is an important factor, but context is the exact reason you run a survey. So, you need to be careful with your questions. 
• Check the result: At the end of the survey, checking and analyzing the results is a key point. If you will not do that, there is no need to share the survey, isn’t it?

Now that you have read so far, you know all the critical points about the issue and where to start. Take action now and start finding your own effective data collection methods for market research !

Şeyma is a content writer at forms.app. She loves art and traveling. She is passionate about reading and writing. Şeyma has expertise in surveys, survey questions, giveaways, statistics, and online forms.

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Next-gen B2B sales: How three game changers grabbed the opportunity

Driven by digitalized operating models, B2B sales have seen sweeping changes over the recent period amid rising customer demand for more seamless and transparent services. 1 “ The multiplier effect: How B2B winners grow ,” McKinsey, April 13, 2023. However, many industrial companies are failing to keep pace with their more commercially focused peers and, as a result, are becoming less competitive in terms of performance and customer services.

The most successful B2B players employ five key tactics to sharpen their sales capabilities: omnichannel sales teams; advanced sales technology and automation; data analytics and hyperpersonalization; tailored strategies on third-party marketplaces; and e-commerce excellence across the full marketing and sales funnel. 2 “ The multiplier effect: How B2B winners grow ,” McKinsey, April 13, 2023.

Companies using all of these tactics are twice as likely to see more than 10 percent market share growth than companies focusing on just one. 3 “ The multiplier effect: How B2B winners grow ,” McKinsey, April 13, 2023. However, implementation is not as simple, requiring a strategic vision, a full commitment, and the right capabilities to drive change throughout the organization. Various leading European industrial companies—part of McKinsey’s Industrial Gamechangers on Go-to-Market disruption in Europe—have achieved success by implementing the first three of these five sales tactics.

Omnichannel sales teams

The clearest rationale for accelerating the transition to omnichannel go-to-market is that industry players demand it. In 2017, only about 20 percent of industrial companies said they preferred digital interactions and purchases. 4 Global B2B Pulse Survey, McKinsey, April 30, 2023. Currently, that proportion is around 67 percent. In 2016, B2B companies had an average of five distinct channels; by 2021, that figure had risen to ten (Exhibit 1).

Excelling in omnichannel means enabling customers to move easily between channels without losing context or needing to repeat information. Companies that achieve these service levels report increased customer satisfaction and loyalty, faster growth rates, lower costs, and easier tracking and analysis of customer data. Across most of these metrics, the contrast with analogue approaches is striking. For example, B2B companies that successfully embed omnichannel show EBIT growth of 13.5 percent, compared to the 1.8 percent achieved by less digitally enabled peers. Next to purely digital channels, inside sales and hybrid sales are the most important channels to deliver an omnichannel experience.

Differentiating inside versus hybrid sales

Best-in-class B2B sellers have achieved up to 20 percent revenue gains by redefining go-to-market through inside and hybrid sales. The inside sales model cannot be defined as customer service, nor is it a call center or a sales support role—rather, it is a customer facing, quota bearing, remote sales function. It relies on qualified account managers and leverages data analytics and digital solutions to optimize sales strategy and outreach through a range of channels (Exhibit 2).

The adoption of inside sales is often an advantageous move, especially in terms of productivity. In fact, inside sales reps can typically cover four times the prospects at 50 percent of the cost of a traditional field rep, allowing the team to serve many customers without sacrificing quality of service. 5 McKinsey analysis. Top performing B2B companies are 50 percent more likely to leverage inside sales.

Up to 80 percent of a company’s accounts—often smaller and medium-sized customers, accounting for about half of revenues—can be covered by inside sales teams. 6 Industry expert interviews; McKinsey analysis. The remaining 20 percent often require in-person interactions, triggering the need for hybrid sales. This pertains to highly attractive leads as well.

Hybrid sales is an innovative model combining inside sales with traditional in-person interactions. Some 85 percent of companies expect hybrid sales will be the most common job role within three years. 7 Global B2B Pulse Survey, McKinsey, December 2022. Hybrid is often optimal for bigger accounts, as it is flexible in utilizing a combination of channels, serving customers where they prefer to buy. It is scalable, thanks to the use of remote and online sales, and it is effective because of the multiplier effect of numerous potential interactions. Of companies that grew more than 10 percent in 2022, 57 percent had adopted a hybrid sales model. 8 Global B2B Pulse, April 2023.

How an industrial automation solution player implemented game-changing inside sales

In 2019, amid soaring digital demand, a global leader in industrial digital and automation solutions saw an opportunity to deliver a cutting-edge approach to sales engagement.

As a starting point, the company took time to clearly define the focus and role of the inside sales team, based on product range, customer needs, and touchpoints. For simple products, where limited customer interaction was required, inside sales was the preferred go-to-market model. For more complex products that still did not require many physical touchpoints, the company paired inside sales teams with technical sales people, and the inside sales group supported fields reps. Where product complexity was high and customers preferred many touch points, the inside sales team adopted an orchestration role, bringing technical functions and field sales together (Exhibit 3).

The company laid the foundations in four key areas. First, it took time to sketch out the model, as well as to set targets and ensure the team was on board. As in any change program, there was some early resistance. The antidote was to hire external talent to help shape the program and highlight the benefits. To foster buy-in, the company also spent time creating visualizations. Once the team was up and running, early signs of success created a snowball effect, fostering enthusiasm among both inside sales teams and field reps.

Second, the company adopted a mantra: inside sales should not—and could not—be cost saving from day one. Instead, a significant part of the budget was allocated to build a tech stack and implement the tools to manage client relationships. One of the company’s leaders said, “As inside sales is all about using tech to obtain better outcomes, this was a vital step.”

The third foundational element was talent. The company realized that inside sales is not easy and is not for everyone—so finding the right people was imperative. As a result, it put in place a career development plan and recognized that many inside sales reps would see the job as a stepping stone in their careers. Demonstrating this understanding provided a great source of motivation for employees.

Finally, finding the right mix of incentives was key. The company chose a system based on compensation and KPI leading and lagging indicators. Individual incentives were a function of whether individuals were more involved with closing deals or supporting others, so a mix of KPIs was employed. The result was a more motivated salesforce and productive cooperation across the organization.

Advanced sales technology and automation

Automation is a key area of advanced sales technology, as it is critical to optimizing non-value adding activities that currently account for about two-thirds of sales teams’ time. More than 30 percent of sales tasks and processes are estimated to be partially automatable, from sales planning through lead management, quotation, order management, and post-sales activities. Indeed, automation leaders not only boost revenues and reduce cost to serve—both by as much as 20 percent—but also foster customer and employee satisfaction. (Exhibit 4). Not surprisingly, nine out of ten industrial companies have embarked on go-to-market automation journeys. Still, only a third say the effort has achieved the anticipated impact. 9 McKinsey analysis.

Leading companies have shown that effective automation focuses on four areas:

• Lead management: Advanced analytics helps teams prioritize leads, while AI-powered chatbots contact prospective customers via text or email and schedule follow-up calls at promising times—for example, at the beginning or end of the working day.
• Contract drafting: AI tools automate responses to request for proposal (RFP) inquiries, based on a predefined content set.
• Invoice generation: Companies use robotic process automation to process and generate invoices, as well as update databases.
• Sales commission planning: Machine learning algorithms provide structural support, for example, to optimize sales commission forecasting, leading up to a 50 percent decline in time spent on compensation planning.

How GEA seized the automation opportunity

GEA is one of the world’s most advanced suppliers of processing machinery for food, beverages, and pharmaceuticals. To provide customers with tailored quotes and services, the company launched a dedicated configure, price, quote (CPQ) system. The aim of the system was to enable automated quote creation that would free up frontline sales teams to operate independently from their back office colleagues. This, in turn, would boost customer interaction and take customer care to the next level.

The work began with a bottom-up review of the company’s configuration protocols, ensuring there was sufficient standardization for the new system to operate effectively. GEA also needed to ensure price consistency—especially important during the recent supply chain volatility. For quotations, the right template with the correct conditions and legal terms needed to be created, a change that eventually allowed the company to cut its quotation times by about 50 percent, as well as boost cross-selling activities.

The company combined the tools with a guided selling approach, in which sales teams focused on the customers’ goals. The teams then leveraged the tools to find the most appropriate product and pricing, leading to a quote that could be enhanced with add-ons, such as service agreements or digital offerings. Once the quote was sent and agreed upon, the data automatically would be transferred from customer relationship management to enterprise resource planning to create the order. In this way, duplication was completely eliminated. The company found that the sales teams welcomed the new approach, as it reduced the time to quote (Exhibit 5).

Data analytics and hyperpersonalization

Data are vital enablers of any go-to-market transformation, informing KPIs and decision making across operations and the customer journey. Key application areas include:

• lead acquisition, including identification and prioritization
• share of wallet development, including upselling and cross-selling, assortment optimization, and microsegmentation
• pricing optimization, including market driven and tailored pricing, deal scoring, and contract optimization
• churn prediction and prevention
• sales effectiveness, so that sales rep time allocations (both in-person and virtual) are optimized, while training time is reduced

How Hilti uses machine data to drive sales

Hilti is a globally leading provider of power tools, services, and software to the construction industry. The company wanted to understand its customers better and forge closer relationships with them. Its Nuron battery platform, which harvests usage data from tools to transform the customer experience and create customer-specific insights, provided the solution.

One in three of Hilti’s frontline staff is in daily contact with the company’s customers, offering advice and support to ensure the best and most efficient use of equipment. The company broke new ground with its intelligent battery charging platform. As tool batteries are recharged, they transfer data to the platform and then to the Hilti cloud, where the data are analyzed to produce actionable insights on usage, pricing, add-ons, consumables, and maintenance. The system will be able to analyze at least 58 million data points every day.

Armed with this type of data, Hilti provides customers with advanced services, offering unique insights so that companies can optimize their tool parks, ensuring that the best tools are available and redundant tools are returned. In the meantime, sales teams use the same information to create deep insights—for example, suggesting that companies rent rather than buy tools, change the composition of tool parks, or upgrade.

To achieve its analytics-based approach, Hilti went on a multiyear journey, moving from unstructured analysis to a fully digitized approach. Still, one of the biggest learnings from its experience was that analytics tools are most effective when backed by human interactions on job sites. The last mile, comprising customer behavior, cannot be second guessed (Exhibit 6).

In the background, the company worked hard to put the right foundations in place. That meant cleaning its data (for example, at the start there were 370 different ways of measuring “run time”) and ensuring that measures were standardized. It developed the ability to understand which use cases were most important to customers, realizing that it was better to focus on a few impactful ones and thus create a convincing offering that was simple to use and effective.

A key element of the rollout was to ensure that employees received sufficient training— which often meant weeks of engagement, rather than just a few hours. The work paid off, with account managers now routinely supported by insights that enrich their interactions with customers. Again, optimization was key, ensuring the information they had at their fingertips was truly useful.

Levers for a successful transformation

The three company examples highlighted here illustrate how embracing omnichannel, sales technology, and data analytics create market leading B2B sales operations. However, the success of any initiative will be contingent on managing change. Our experience in working with leading industrial companies shows that the most successful digital sales and analytics transformations are built on three elements:

• Strategy: As a first step, companies develop strategies starting from deep customer insights. With these, they can better understand their customers’ problems and identify what customers truly value. Advanced analytics can support the process, informing insights around factors such as propensity to buy and churn. These can enrich the company’s understanding of how it wants its go-to-market model to evolve.
• Tailored solutions: Customers appreciate offerings tailored to their needs. 10 “ The multiplier effect: How B2B winners grow ,” McKinsey, April 13, 2023. This starts with offerings and services, extends to pricing structures and schemes, and ways of serving and servicing. For example, dynamic pricing engines that model willingness to pay (by segment, type of deal, and route to market) may better meet the exact customer demand, while serving a customer completely remotely might better suit their interaction needs, and not contacting them too frequently might prevent churn more than frequent outreaches. Analytics on data gained across all channels serves to uncover these needs and become hyperpersonalized.
• Single source of truth: Best-in-class data and analytics capabilities leverage a variety of internal and external data types and sources (transaction data, customer data, product data, and external data) and technical approaches. To ensure a consistent output, companies can establish a central data repository as a “single source of truth.” This can facilitate easy access to multiple users and systems, thereby boosting efficiency and collaboration. A central repository also supports easier backup, as well as data management and maintenance. The chances of data errors are reduced and security is tightened.

Many companies think they need perfect data to get started. However, to make productive progress, a use case based approach is needed. That means selecting the most promising use cases and then scaling data across those cases through speedy testing.

And with talent, leading companies start with small but highly skilled analytics teams, rather than amassing talent too early—this can allow them to create an agile culture of continual improvement and cost efficiency.

As shown by the three companies discussed in this article, most successful B2B players employ various strategies to sharpen their sales capabilities, including omnichannel sales teams; advanced sales technology and automation; and data analytics and hyperpersonalization. A strategic vision, a full commitment, and the right capabilities can help B2B companies deploy these strategies successfully.

Paolo Cencioni is a consultant in McKinsey’s Brussels office, where Jacopo Gibertini is also a consultant; David Sprengel is a partner in the Munich office; and Martina Yanni is an associate partner in the Frankfurt office.

The authors wish to thank Christopher Beisecker, Kate Piwonski, Alexander Schult, Lucas Willcke, and the B2B Pulse team for their contributions to this article.

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For many, being a social media influencer has transformed from a side gig into a multimillion dollar business. Creators now have more say in the sponsored content they create for brands as well as the earnings they receive. And as creators continue to prove themselves as influential brand advocates, marketers are tapping these influencers for content beyond social feeds, including TV, out-of-home, and other digital media.  

Influencers have also proven resilient amid economic uncertainty and an increasingly crowded space. Influencer marketing spend rose roughly 3.5 times faster in 2023 than social ad spending, according to EMARKETER’s July 2023 forecast. 

In this guide, we explore the current state of influencer marketing, and why marketers, social platforms, and media companies should adjust their strategies as the power of the creator economy grows. 

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What is the creator economy?

The creator economy , also called the influencer economy, is the interconnected ecosystem of creators, audiences, digital platforms, marketers, and agencies and/or vendors. The creator economy, as defined by EMARKETER’s Creator Economy Explainer report , enables creators to generate revenues in the form of money, goods, or services through their content, usually delivered via social media platforms. Meanwhile, marketers can partner with creators to build awareness for their brands.

Because interaction among stakeholders is constantly evolving, revenue data is sparse. A March 2023 estimate from Citigroup values the creator economy at $65.2 billion in 2023. By 2024, that figure is expected to reach $74.0 billion. 

What is influencer marketing?

Influencer marketing involves a celebrity, content creator, subject matter expert, or public figure endorsing a brand’s product or service to drive social proof. 

The market is rapidly expanding as influencer types have increased, with influencers filling every conceivable niche and sub-niche interest. 

Here are the types of influencers, based on follower count and focuses:

• Mega-influencers: Often celebrity influencers, those accounts with more than 1 million followers 
• Macro-influencers: Influencers with a follower count of 100,000 to 999,999
• Mid-tier influencers: Influencers with a follower count of 20,000 to 99,999
• Micro-influencers: Followers ranging between 5,000 to 19,999 
• Nano-influencers: A community of 1,000 to 4,999 followers 
• Kidfluencers: Gen Alphas with social followings that often review toys and games 
• Gaming influencers: Esport and video game players who discuss game strategy and livestream while in-game 
• Virtual influencers: Computer-generated avatars like Noonoouri, a fashion model and digital-only popstar 

The pandemic sped up changes in influencer marketing that were already underway, such as the trend toward “unfiltered” or less-scripted content, the rise of TikTok, and the popularity of “everyday influencers” with genuine and relatable personalities like Elyse Myers. 

Industries like financial services that hadn’t invested in influencer marketing earlier are also learning to navigate the space. And as ecommerce and social media converge, influencers will become increasingly vital intermediaries, helping to connect brands with consumers on social media. 

Creators vs. influencers: What’s the difference? 

Creators create content. Influencers are creators if the content they develop can sway the purchase decisions of a population regardless of whether they are being paid to promote a product. The term refers to a wide group of people from celebrities to loyal customers. Creators are influencers if their content affects purchase decisions. 

Who is a creator? 

Everyone has the potential to be a content creator thanks to how the term is defined. Adobe estimates there could be up to 303 million creators worldwide. For context, that figure is close to the US population at the start of 2023, per the US Census Bureau. 

Most content creators worldwide are under 41, but there are creators of all ages, including Gen Xers and baby boomers, per Adobe. 

Creators over 60 years old, dubbed “granfluencers,” have found popularity on social media due to their cross-generational appeal. 

For example, Nonna Pia, a TikTok account with 4 million followers, features a grandmother who cooks classic Italian dishes while her grandson narrates. Similarly, the Instagram account “Excuse My Grandma” follows a grandmother-granddaughter duo as they discuss generational differences in dating, fashion, and more. 

Creator categories

Although there is an account for every interest and target audience—from foraging to chiropractic medicine—lifestyle, fashion, and beauty are among the top creator categories.

While broad, these top categories overlap with many other industries, including travel, health, entertainment, food and drink, and art. Cross-category appeal is ideal for brand marketers looking to expand their reach to find like-minded audience demographics. 

Areas that have seen recent growth in creator focus include:

Collegiate sports

A 2021 NCAA policy change allows college athletes to be compensated for their name, image, and likeness. College athletes already command large audiences and regularly create content on social media, per August 2022 data from Curastory.  

B2B professionals 

Industry professionals are increasingly building audiences by sharing B2B content online. For example, a “ LinkedInfluencer ” is an influencer on B2B social platform LinkedIn. 

Nearly 1 in 4 people in the US are on LinkedIn, according to EMARKETER’s May 2023 forecast, as both the creator economy and B2B ad spending grow. As buyers get younger and B2B marketing becomes increasingly digital, authenticity and experience will matter more in marketing. 

Financial services

In the financial sector, “ finfluencers ” use their social media platform to share videos that cover personal experiences, tips, and advice about investing, budgeting, financial trends, and the economy. 

Finfluencers are capitalizing on a widespread lack of financial literacy. However, the quality of the content is controversial because some creators do not have a professional background in finance. Despite concerns, 60% of investors ages 18 to 35 use social media as a source of investment information, according to a Finra Investor Education Foundation report.  

The generational response 

Younger shoppers are more likely to use social media . About 129.5 million US Gen Zers and millennials will use social media in 2024, per a May 2023 EMARKETER forecast. 

Younger shoppers are also more likely to follow and buy from accounts run by influencers. A Q2 2022 Klarna survey found that over 40% of Gen Zers and millennials worldwide follow influencers , compared with one-quarter of Gen Xers and less than 10% of baby boomers. 

Millennials

Often considered a millennial concept, influencer culture is embraced by this extremely active social media user base. Close to 70 million US millennials will use social media next year, per EMARKETER’s May 2023 forecast. 

Millennials look to trusted influencers for product recommendations, reviews, and as a discovery point for new brands. 

They’re also willing to purchase what they see being promoted by their favorite influencers on social media. Over half (54.1%) of US social network users ages 25 to 34 will make a purchase on a social platform in 2024, per September 2023 EMARKETER data. 

In 2024, 60.7 million US Gen Zers will use social media, according to EMARKETER’s May 2023 forecast. And while that growth is expected to continue through 2027, Gen Z will remain slightly behind millennial users.  

Gen Zers, however, are not as sold on following influencers as their older peers. Less than half (48.6%) use social media to view creator/influencer content, according to a July 2023 EMARKETER survey’s findings. 

Where influencers do have an outsize influence over Gen Z is women’s beauty and wellness. Close to 80% of Gen Z women rank creators as their most trusted source for beauty recommendations, a survey conducted by LTK found. 

Those recommendations are also turning into online and offline sales. Eighty-three percent of Gen Z women shop for creators’ product suggestions online, and 82% shop for those items in-store.  

Influencing by “de-influencing” 

While the majority of influencers promote what to buy, some influencers are turning to platforms like TikTok to tell their followers what not to buy. As of January 2024, #deinfluencing videos on TikTok have roughly 1.3 billion views, up considerably from 208 million in February 2023. 

Seen as a method to combat overconsumption in a tight economy, deinfluencing videos often offer economical alternatives to expensive products or discuss the pitfalls of fast-fashion shopping hauls. 

Creators also use de-influencing videos to share critical commentary to distance themselves from brand controversies and post honest reviews of products that don’t meet expectations. Doing so can help reinforce creator trust through authenticity and transparency. 

Influencer marketing spend 

In 2024, advertisers will spend $5.89 billion on influencer marketing, a 14.7% increase YoY, according to EMARKETER’s July 2023 forecast, which excludes paid media. 

US influencer marketing spend grew more than three times faster than social ad spending in 2023, and it will remain ahead through 2025, according to a July 2023 EMARKETER forecast. 

Social platforms are reliant on creators, not the other way around, as creators’ options extend and include owned channels like blogs, podcasts, and newsletters.

A number of well-known creators, such as YouTuber MrBeast and podcaster Alex Cooper, have launched their own audio and video networks.

Although not every creator has a strong enough brand or following to create a successful media business , the growing success of these ventures should signal to brand marketers and entertainment companies that creators can offer much more than an outlet to generate hype or hawk goods. 

Where influencers post sponsored content

Creators utilize a number of social media platforms. 

To be impactful, influencer content should be engaging, entertaining, and educational, and marketers should work with credible creators who have built trust with their communities. 

US marketers will allocate over $1 billion to sponsored content on each of the top four influencer marketing platforms in 2024, according to EMARKETER’s July 2023 forecast. When it comes to influencer monetization , Instagram posts were the top format that creators worldwide were paid by brands to create in December 2022, per a Later and Mavrck December 2022 survey. Here’s a look at the top social media marketing platforms for influencers.

Instagram remains the top platform for sponsored content, per a June 2023 report from Mavrck. About 98% of US creators share brand content via Instagram feed posts, Instagram Stories, and Instagram Reels, while 69.1% go live on the platform. 

As of June 2023, more creators worldwide report being paid to create Reels (98.0%) compared with TikTok videos (89.6%). 

Creator monetization: In May 2023, Meta began testing a new payout model for Ads on Reels. The monetization program pays creators based on the performance of the Reel, rather than the earnings of the Reel ad, per TechCrunch. 

As TikTok’s popularity rises, brand opportunities for paid content is likely to increase as well. 

Influencer marketing spending growth on TikTok has grown 27.8%, compared with 12.7% on Instagram, according to EMARKETER’s July 2023 forecast.

In 2024, over half of marketers (54.0%) will use TikTok specifically for influencer marketing, with $1.25 billion in US influencer marketing spend going to the platform, per the same EMARKETER forecast.

Creator monetization: If an influencer promotes a brand’s product on TikTok Shop, the social app’s ecommerce tool, they can earn a commission through product sales. For both brands and influencers, TikTok Shop holds a lot of promise and room for growth. In 2024, we expect 40.7 million TikTok users to make a purchase on the app. 

YouTube, like Instagram and TikTok, has a solid hold on influencer marketing. YouTube is the top platform for US adults to follow influencers, according to March 2023 CivicScience data. 

EMARKETER forecasts that in 2024, US marketers will spend $1.07 billion on influencer content for YouTube. 

Similar to Instagram Reels, YouTube has been emphasizing Shorts as a cost-effective option for marketers.

Livestreaming is also leveraged by YouTube to connect influencers—and, ultimately, the brands they partner with—to followers. One-fourth (25.0%) of internet users say they watch creator- or influencer-led livestreams on YouTube, making it the most popular livestreaming app, ahead of TikTok (18.7%), Facebook (17.4%), and Instagram (14.0%), per an April 2023 survey by The Influencer Marketing Factory. 

Creator monetization: YouTube attracts and retains creators in a number of ways. The platform offers a way to connect creator, artist, and brand stores to their YouTube channel, enabling users to more easily find and purchase featured products. YouTube also has affiliate shopping capabilities for creators interested in revenue opportunities. 

Other platforms with influencer marketing potential include Facebook, Twitch, and to a lesser extent, Snapchat and X, the social media company formerly known as Twitter. 

Despite its waning popularity among users, especially youths, Facebook is still expected to see $1.00 billion in influencer marketing spending next year, per an EMARKETER forecast. 

Popular with the esports gaming community, livestreaming app Twitch recently launched a number of features for creators. In July 2023, Twitch announced its Discovery Feed, made up of livestream clips and ad features that help creators share their content from other platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, and Reddit. 

Snap has struggled with ad monetization and commands a fraction of influencer marketing spend compared with larger platforms. In 2023, Snap crossed $40 million in influencer marketing spending, and is expected to see growth of 3.4% in 2024.  

In October 2023, Snap released Creator Collab Campaigns, a suite of tools to facilitate brand-creator partnerships on the platform. Previously, Snap’s primary focus was helping creators monetize directly on the platform through programs like ad revenue sharing. 

X (formerly Twitter)

X saw total US ad revenues decline by 54.9% in 2023 after Elon Musk’s 2022 purchase, according to EMARKETER’s October 2023 forecast, which means it is not an attractive platform for influencer marketing. 

The aforementioned June 2023 Mavrck survey found that 45.9% of US creators shared promoted tweets, while a December 2022 Later and Mavrck survey found that 8.3% of creators worldwide have been paid by a brand to post on X. 

Influencer marketing strategy

An influencer marketing strategy allows a brand to further its reach and tap new audiences, but narrowing down the right creator to work with requires an understanding of the landscape and what type of partnership will best serve the brand’s objectives.  

Influencer marketing hubs: As influencer marketing took off, agencies dedicated to influencers sprang up to help brands manage the opportunity and vice versa. 

Acting as a directory, influencer marketing hubs organize creator profiles by follower count per social platform, audience demographics, location, services offered, the price of partnership, and their interests (e.g., fashion, travel, home improvement, etc.), to take the guesswork out of selecting an influencer to partner with.  

In addition to facilitating brand-creator relationships and identifying new talent, influencer hubs create campaign narratives, determine KPIs, and amplify influencer-led social campaigns, among other responsibilities. 

For creators, working with an influencer marketing agency can be beneficial to scale and manage their own business. As influencer campaigns become more complex, an agency can manage payment, negotiate contracts, handle data analytics and reporting, and oversee other business functions.

Influencer marketing campaigns: An influencer marketing campaign is one that leverages the influence the creator has over their followers. 

When in a paid partnership with a brand, the influencer campaign’s objective is to increase awareness, engagement, and, ultimately, sales. In comparison, an unsponsored campaign, while achieving the same objectives to various degrees, can be seen as more trustworthy and authentic by the influencer’s community.  

Influencer campaigns fall into two categories: 

• User-generated content (UGC) is organic content shared by a social media influencer to promote a brand or product without direct input from the featured brand. The influencer is not paid for UGC posts, and is often not as polished as content created with brand involvement. UGC posts range from product reviews, recommendations, tutorials, and personal experiences with a given good or service.
• Influencer-generated content is a collaboration between a creator and partner brand. These campaigns follow a brand’s creative guidelines—including tone of voice, talking points, aesthetics, and frequency of posts—to produce content fitting for that creator’s audience. As more influencers become trusted partners, brands have loosened the reins, allowing talent to tap into their own creativity for campaigns. Like UGC, influencer-led campaigns are more authentic and engaging, and may prove more effective for the brand involved. 

Influencer posts: When paid for by a brand partner, an influencer post is a type of native advertising. When unpaid with no brand involvement, the post is considered UGC. 

Most commonly seen on social media platforms, formats include Instagram photos with captions, short-form videos on TikTok, and long-form video content posted to YouTube. Influencers can also post written content on blogging platforms like Substack. Influencers will often promote their posts across various platforms to increase reach, engagement, and effectiveness. 

While format is an important aspect of influencer marketing, the post’s creative should be at the forefront. According to EMARKETER’s Influencer Monetization 2023 report, the “three E’s” of influencer marketing should be remembered when creating posts. 

“Regardless of the format, each piece of content should be engaging, entertaining, and educational to drive the most impact,” according to EMARKETER analyst Jasmine Enberg. Brands should also trust creators’ input on creative and format decisions because they know what will resonate best with their audience, Enberg continued.   

Product launches: Influencers are an ideal way for a brand to launch new products. 

When introducing a new product, brands can expand their reach by working with influencers with a similar following as the brand’s target audience. A kitchenware brand, for instance, may work with a popular food influencer to introduce a new range of pots to show off the products, its attributes, and how to buy. 

As influencers become brands in their own right, many have launched their own product lines.

Thanks to an engaged and well-known audience, some influencers are able to develop products that align with the interests of the community they’ve built across their social media footprint. 

For example, beauty vlogger and influencer Huda Kattan launched her own line of false eyelashes in 2013 after her community expressed an interest. Kattan then expanded the line into a full range of cosmetics. Huda Beauty, named after Kattan’s YouTube channel and blog, is now sold D2C and at Sephora. 

Creators with large followings have launched food and beverage products, fitness programs, clothing lines, restaurants, and more to capitalize on their popularity and the value and willingness of their followers to support their businesses. Venturing into their own products also helps creators diversify their revenues and avoid alienating their audiences with too much sponsored content. 

Collaboration: Similar to leveraging an influencer’s help to launch a new product, brands also partner with their stable of creators for product collaborations. 

Often developed as a one-off or limited-edition product, brand-influencer collaborations can be a great source of product innovation. 

In March 2023, Chipotle added two new limited-edition menu items to its quesadilla lineup, the “Keithadilla” and the “Fajita Quesadilla Hack,” which were developed and popularized by TikTok creators Keith Lee and Aleix Frost. 

For some influencers, a brand collaboration may be a jumping-off point to developing their own product lines if the collaborative effort was deemed successful. 

Common influencer marketing KPIs

These metrics are a good way for brands to measure their return on investment for influencer marketing campaigns: 

• Facebook engagement rates (subscribers only): Engagement rate is defined as measurable interactions on social media posts, including likes, comments, favorites, retweets, shares, replies, and reactions, and is calculated based on all these interactions divided by total follower count.  
• Facebook posts per week  
• Instagram affiliate engagement rate : The percentage of an affiliate influencer’s audience that interacts with an affiliate influencer’s campaign or post on Instagram; this includes likes, comments, and shares.
• Instagram affiliate impression per follower rate : The number of affiliate-generated views that a specific post or piece of content received over a specific period of time on Instagram. 
• Instagram affiliate reach : The percentage of followers and viewers from an affiliate influencer’s audience that is exposed to the affiliate influencer’s Instagram. 
• Instagram affiliate view rate : The percentage of an affiliate influencer’s audience that views an affiliate influencers’ campaign or post on Instagram. 
• Instagram engagement rates : Engagement rate is defined as measurable interactions on social media posts, including likes, comments, favorites, retweets, shares, replies, and reactions, and is calculated based on all these interactions divided by total follower count.
• Instagram posts per week
• Social affiliate clicks : The clicks generated by social influencer efforts, including generating traffic or leads (through affiliate links) to the company’s website.
• Social affiliate conversion rate : The percentage of clicks generated by social influencer efforts, including generating traffic or leads (through affiliate links) to the company’s website that also result in completed orders or purchases.
• Social affiliate engagement rate : The percentage of an affiliate influencer’s audience that interacts with an affiliate influencer’s campaign or post on a social media platform; this includes likes, comments, and shares.
• Social affiliate orders : The orders generated by social influencer efforts, including generating traffic or leads (through affiliate links) to the company’s website.
• Social affiliate sales : The sales or revenues generated by social influencer efforts, including generating traffic or leads (through affiliate links) to the company’s website.
• Social affiliate view rate : The percentage of an affiliate influencer’s audience that views an affiliate influencer’s campaign or post on a social media platform.
• TikTok affiliate engagement rate : The percentage of an affiliate influencer’s audience that interacts with an affiliate influencer’s campaign or post on TikTok; this includes likes, comments, and shares.
• TikTok affiliate view rate : The percentage of an affiliate influencer’s audience that views an affiliate influencer’s campaign or post on TikTok.
• X (formerly Twitter) tweets per week

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Global NBA basketball viewers, 2024

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Refining a Value Proposition in an Evolving Fintech Market

• 28 Mar, 2024
• Author Keith Nissen
• Theme Technology, Media & Telecom

S&P Global Market Intelligence Kagan Consumer Insights surveys found little commonality between NBA fans in the US and how they access games versus those experiencing the NBA internationally. However, the data shows that, regardless of the continent on which one resides, being a basketball fan is generally synonymous with being a fan of NBA basketball.

➤ The survey data show that 23% of online Americans watch the NBA, while viewership in Europe is at approximately 10%. However, these figures are dwarfed by viewership in China, where 52% of survey respondents said they watch NBA basketball games.

➤ Approximately one-third (30%) of NBA fans in the US are under 35 years old, while another 30% are over 55 years of age. Half of NBA viewers in China are aged 35-54. Europe tends to have a higher percentage of young adults who follow the NBA, especially in the UK, where 57% of respondents who watch the NBA are under 35 years old.

➤ Sixty percent to 80% of NBA fans across the six markets analyzed are avid sports fans who watch live TV sports at least once a week. There exists a strong correlation between NBA viewership and multichannel TV service usage.

➤ Being a fan of NBA basketball in Europe or China does not necessarily equate to following other American professional sports leagues.

Data from the Kagan Consumer Insights online surveys conducted in the US, Europe and Asia in 2023 show that viewership of NBA basketball varies from region to region. Six markets, including the US, the UK, Germany, France, Italy and China were selected for comparison purposes in this analysis.

In the US, 23% of internet adults reported watching the NBA, and 79% of basketball fans, overall, watch NBA games. In Europe, approximately 10% of internet adults cite watching NBA games. In the UK, where NBA viewing is the lowest (7% of internet adults), over three-quarters (77%) of total basketball fans said they watched NBA games. In comparison, in France and Italy, where professional EuroLeague basketball is popular, approximately two-thirds of total basketball viewers watch NBA games.

The survey data also show that a whopping 52% of internet adults in China watch NBA games, representing 90% of total basketball fans. Basketball is extremely popular in China, with a large percentage of viewers watching Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) league games. Considering its large population, China represents one of the largest international markets for the NBA.

The survey data reveal that the age distribution of NBA viewers in the US is significantly different from that in China and Europe. NBA viewership in the US is fairly evenly distributed across age groups, with 30% being young adults (18-34 years old) and another 30% being older adults (55 years and older). In China, NBA viewers tend to be somewhat younger, with half (50%) falling into the 35-54 age bracket and 36% being adults aged 18-34.

In Europe, where overall NBA viewing is lower than in the US, a higher percentage of NBA fans are young adults (18-34 years old). NBA viewing by young adults under the age of 35 ranges from 39% in Italy to 49% in Germany and 57% in the UK. NBA viewing by older adults (55 years and older) is almost nonexistent (3%) in the UK.

The survey data show that the majority of NBA fans across all six sample markets are men. For example, in Italy, 70% of NBA viewers are male, while the UK has the most balanced gender distribution, with 52% being male. In the US, 59% of NBA viewers are male.

Across all six markets, NBA viewership tends to be strongest among those who watch live TV sports at least once a week, also known as frequent live sports viewers. Italy has the highest percentage of these viewers watching the NBA (81%), followed by Germany (71%) and the US (65%). France and the UK have the highest percentages, 34% and 31%, respectively, of infrequent live TV sports viewers, or those who watch less than once a week, tuning in to NBA games.

The survey data also show a strong correlation between NBA viewership and the use of multichannel TV services. For instance, in France and Germany, about seven in 10 NBA viewers subscribe to a cable, satellite or IPTV multichannel service. Both markets have relatively few video cord-cutting households and a slowly growing percentage of young adults who have never subscribed to a multichannel TV service, also known as video cord nevers. Only 39% of NBA viewers in Italy have a multichannel TV service subscription, which is still significant considering that only 29% of internet households subscribe to a traditional pay TV service.

Nearly two-thirds (63%) of NBA viewers in the US still subscribe to a multichannel TV service, despite the overall use of traditional pay TV services dropping to 51% in fall 2023. However, 29% of NBA viewers have dropped their traditional multichannel TV service, and another 8% are video cord nevers, which mostly rely on online services for access to NBA games.

How NBA games are accessed also varies greatly by region. For instance, in the US, live NBA games are carried on numerous cable TV channels such as ESPN and TNT, as regional sports networks (RSNs), national TV broadcast networks and the NBA Network cable channel. NBA games can also be accessed online using virtual multichannel TV services such as YouTube TV, the NBA League Pass/Team Pass app and RSN online services such as Bally Sports+.

Across Europe, NBA games can generally be accessed online using the NBA League Pass/Team Pass apps. In the UK, NBA fans can also watch live games through TNT Sports (formerly BT Sports) or the Discovery+ online service (carrying TNT Sports broadcasts). In France, NBA games are broadcast on Canal Plus and beIN Sports. DAZN carries NBA games in Germany and SkySports broadcasts NBA games in Italy. In China, NBA games can be accessed online through Tencent Sports or Migu.

The US survey data shows that 88% of NBA viewers watch other professional sports leagues, such as the National Football League, Major League Baseball and National Hockey League. The data reveals that 82% of NBA fans also watch the NFL, 55% watch MLB baseball and 24% watch NHL hockey.

Outside the US, far fewer NBA basketball fans follow other American professional sports leagues. The UK has the strongest ties to other American sports leagues with 42% of NBA fans watching another American sport. Not far behind, 39% of NBA viewers in Germany watch at least one other American sports league. The data also highlights that few NBA viewers in China (8%) watch other American sports leagues.

The Kagan Q3 2023 US Consumer Insights survey was conducted in September 2023 consisting of 2,500 internet adults. The survey has a margin of error of +/- 1.9 ppts at the 95% confidence level. The Kagan 2023 European Consumer Insights survey was conducted in December 2023 consisting of 1,000 internet adults per country in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden and Poland. Each survey has a margin of error of +/-3 ppts at the 95% confidence level. The Kagan 2023 Asia Consumer Insights survey was conducted in June 2023 consisting of 1,000 internet adults per country in China, South Korea and India. Each survey has a margin of error of +/1 3 ppts at the 95% confidence level.  Percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number. Survey data should only be used to identify general market characteristics and directional trends.

To submit direct feedback/suggestions on the questions presented here, please use the "feedback" button located above, directly under the title of this article. Note that while all submissions will be reviewed and every attempt will be made to provide pertinent data, Kagan is unable to guarantee the inclusion of specific questions in future surveys. Consumer Insights is a regular feature from S&P Global Market Intelligence Kagan. This article was published by S&P Global Market Intelligence and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.

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ABA core provider survey cited in Kansas City Fed research brief

American Bankers Association surveys on banker satisfaction with core providers are cited extensively in a new payments system brief published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City . While the researchers do not draw any conclusions, they discuss evidence of how “potentially unfair” contract terms may contribute to core provider market power over banks and credit unions.

The researchers highlight 2022 ABA survey results showing that 46% of community banks that used the “big three” of Fiserv, FIS and Jack Henry were extremely or somewhat dissatisfied with their core provider, compared with about 27% of banks that used a smaller core provider, and they highlighted the contrast in ratings by banks and by the cores themselves, noting that “ABA concludes that this gap in effectiveness assessment between the banks and core providers ‘is the root cause of bank leaders’ dissatisfaction with core providers.’”

The article found that the “big three” not only “dominate the U.S. core services market but also have a large presence in related vertical markets, such as card network services; payment processing services for DIs, merchants, or governments; and BaaS.” The researchers discuss the CFPB’s concerns over market power , although they note that “it is difficult to assess whether the Big Three are leveraging this power.”

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UK public's inflation expectations fall again in March - Citi/Yougov survey shows

L ONDON (Reuters) -The British public's expectations for inflation over the next year and the longer term fell in March, U.S. bank Citi said on Thursday as it published a monthly survey by market research firm YouGov.

Citi said public expectations for inflation in 12 months' time fell to 3.3% in March from 3.6% in February, while expectations for the five- to 10-year period fell to 3.4% from 3.5%.

"At the start of 2024, reporting around shipping disruption, as well as risks to energy supplies, once again likely drove these data higher," Citi economist Benjamin Nabarro said in a note to clients about the Yougov survey.

"It is encouraging to see these numbers falling relatively quickly."

Data from Citi/Yougov for February also showed a fall in the public's inflation expectations.

The falling trend in the public's inflation expectations should provide further encouragement to the BoE's monetary policy committee that second-round effects of inflation are fading, Nabarro added.

Data last week showed British inflation slowed to 3.4%, the lowest since September 2021, raising expectations that the Bank of England could start cutting interest rates in the months ahead.

(Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Jane Merriman)