The 9 New Rules of Successful Market Research

So how can your organization keep a pulse on your consumers in a shifting world? How can you quickly discern what people are thinking, doing, and believing? The answer is simple: by conducting ongoing market research.

This research cannot be siloed within one department alone. Both the ability to investigate and the findings themselves need to be accessible anywhere, at any time, by anyone in the organization who needs it. Critical information must be shared throughout the business — helping teams embrace agile ways of working that allow them to adapt to ever-changing circumstances.

The principles of this agile new approach to market research are distilled in our new eGuide: The 9 New Rules of Successful Market Research.

Assembled in collaboration with market research experts, the new rules will effectively position your organization to combat today’s unique challenges: rising competition caused by rapid globalization, growing customer expectations (fuelled in large part by customer experience innovators like Netflix and Amazon), diminishing attention spans amid higher levels of distraction, and the need to effectively harness the latest technologies.

You can discover and learn how to follow the nine new rules of successful market research by downloading the full eGuide now. To whet your appetite, here’s a taste of the first three...

Rule one: accelerate your time to deliverables. The impact of COVID-19 will still be felt long after lockdowns have ended and vaccinations have been fully rolled out. In the space of a few months, the pandemic forced through a few years’ worth of digital transformation. Companies faced a choice: digitalize or die.

Market researchers have been forced to move at unprecedented speed to keep up with changing consumer habits. Once the world fully reopens, this pace of change will only increase.

It’s therefore crucial that market researchers can provide rapid insights on an ongoing basis — showing their clients who their customers are, how they behave, what they need, and outlining how they can help. 

Rule two: be agile. Agile companies are carving out a competitive advantage in this new world. There is little point in investing a huge amount of time, effort, and money into strategies that will quickly become outdated. Instead, companies need to keep their ears to the ground at all times and make ongoing changes as and when necessary.

In other words, you need to embrace an agile market research methodology. This involves asking customers a few questions at a time and repeatedly checking back in, instead of the ‘kitchen sink’ approach (i.e. confronting customers with once-a-year, mammoth, tell-all surveys).

Only this will ensure that your company can keep its fingers on the pulse of what your consumers really think — and how they’re actually behaving. It allows for quick shifts as and when necessary, helping your business spot opportunities to pivot before your offerings are obsolete or no longer valuable.

Rule three: democratize data. Silos are the death knell of data-driven organizations. Critical information must be readily accessible, ensuring that the right people have the right information at the right time. Unfortunately, market research departments are typically organized in a way that inhibits — rather than promotes — knowledge-sharing.

To continue reading and discover all nine rules for successful market research, and learn how your organization can succeed in today’s changing world, download the full eGuide now.