What are the Benefits of Market Research?

Market research is a valuable asset for any company, providing insight that enables key stakeholders to make better business decisions. In addition to helping companies develop products that are more useful, more desirable, and, thus, more profitable, market research also acts as insurance, protecting companies against competition, market fluctuations, and more! When properly conducted, market research yields benefits that have the potential to far outweigh its costs (of time, resources and money). Here are the top three benefits of market research:

Market Research Minimizes Risk

First and foremost, market research provides security. By supplying a selection of timely, relevant facts and figures, market research helps protect a company’s market presence, providing validation for specific business strategies. With market research data, companies can identify and segment market needs; frame brand messaging; and manage organizational, as well as operational, processes. The result: they can prioritize the allocation of their resources and, thereby, minimize their risks!

Market Research Maximizes Business Opportunities

Of course, information also maximizes a company’s potential for success by uncovering data about consumers, competitors, and the market as a whole that can be exploited for profit in the future. Much like any basic SWOT analysis, market research reveals details about a company’s own strengths and weaknesses, as well as those of its competitors, and gives evidence of the possible opportunities and threats they are currently (or might be) facing within a market. With data to bolster their decision-making processes, businesses can stack the odds in their favor, designating time and money to the endeavors most likely to produce positive results.

Market Research Serves as a Benchmark 

According to a PricewaterhouseCoopers study, “companies that benchmark achieve 69% faster growth and 45% greater productivity than those that don’t.” Apparently, the old adage about not knowing where you’re going if you can’t see where you’ve been” (attributed in various ideations by philosophers and writers like Confucius, Maya Angelou, and George Santayana) extends to the business world. Market research provides companies with the data they need to monitor their performance over time so that they can improve it in the future. It serves as a point of reference against which they can gauge how well (or not) their current and future products, policies, and practices are affecting their overall business decisions.

Want to Learn More?

There’s little doubt that the benefits of market research can provide competitive advantages for companies. To ensure that your business is getting accurate and relevant feedback that is capable of truly informing better business decisions, you need an experienced market research partner. Contact our team at Research America to learn more about the benefits of market research and what you can expect from well-designed — custom — research.