Traditional market research for the introduction of new products or services is a thing of the past. Yet market insights are certainly just as necessary – and above all needed faster – to make products successful. An online measurement platform also allows you to conduct this research in a modern way. With a strong focus on rapid results, continuity and greater control over customer experiences.
Become your own modern research agency
The traditional ‘market research agency’ is a thing of the past. Have those agencies already researched that themselves? I wondered about this recently, as I have seen more and more companies in recent years say goodbye to the long, difficult and tedious surveys they used to use. They now choose data analysis and modern research methods through social media or chatbots. And above all, short surveys through an online measurement platform (such as GrowPromoter). New technology helps you gain better market insights yourself more quickly, but that does not happen automatically.
Speed and continuity
Speed is becoming increasingly important in market research. It allows you to keep making adjustments continuously, because it is no longer just about your product. It is also increasingly about how customers experience it and the services surrounding the product. In that situation, you do not want to wait 24 hours for market research from ‘the research agency’. You want to see continuous real-time results on your online dashboard.
Alongside speed, the key is still to keep asking the right, intelligent questions at the right time. At GrowPromoter, we help our customers do this with a dedicated market research template. It includes set questions (with a dynamic questionnaire) as well as room for highly specific questions that are truly your own. Only in this way can you get truly valuable information for your market research on your dashboard.
Why market research?
Good market research is crucial to (continuing to) bring products and services to market successfully. Ongoing measurement provides valuable insights for the further development of your product or service. It also offers opportunities to understand customers' motivations and experiences. And to adjust the customer experience.
Market research also prevents you from completely missing the mark. After all, a lack of market research, or poor market research, can prove fatal. Take Kodak, for example. They invented the digital camera themselves, but marketed it entirely incorrectly. And they continued to cling to traditional rolls of film because that revenue kept rising. They did not realise that those growth figures on the eve of their downfall resulted from stockpiling by customers who anticipated shortages. Those customers did see the impact of the digital camera coming.
Make your intended customer experiences concrete
Market research is also becoming increasingly important for taking a targeted approach to your customer experiences. The focus is increasingly shifting from ‘customer satisfaction’ to customer experience quality. This is because customer experiences are increasingly important for making a difference in a world where products are becoming ever more similar.
Defining and improving customer experience is therefore a growing priority for market research. But how do you approach this? First and foremost, make it clear what a ‘good customer experience’ means in concrete terms at your organisation. Ideas about this can vary greatly. KPMG has an interesting ‘roadmap’ with six pillars of customer experience (Empathy, Personalisation, Time & Effort, Expectations, Resolution and Integrity) to help you think about this and take action in a targeted way.
At GrowPromoter, Experience Experts also help our customers take this step. This gives them more valuable insights and greater control over customer experience, including through market research.
Rogier Taylor
Director and co-founder of GrowPromoter
