Guest Article by Amy Collett of bizwell.org
Low-quality market research data costs businesses $611 billion each year, according to a cognitive SEO report. When data about customers and market conditions is inaccurate, it tends to lead to poor marketing decisions, kinks in the sales pipelines, a less-than-enthusiastic response in the market, and lost business in general.
One of the biggest reasons businesses have low-quality market data is that they utilize unqualified participants for their market research. Even if they use the right research methodology, the results they receive aren’t always relevant and don’t paint a clear-enough picture of market conditions. That’s why finding high-quality market research participants should be a priority for your business.
Let us walk you through tried-and-tested strategies that allow you to find reliable market research participants, with the aim of gathering high-quality data.
Identify your ideal research participants
It’s a good idea to identify your ideal research participants – the demographics, personality type, background, and whatever else applicable. This will give you clarity on the groups, forums, and communities they might belong to, and how best to approach them. Also, you’ll also know which participants you want to avoid. The NCBI explains the basics of qualitative research, including finding relevant participants.
Advertise and market your research initiative
You have to spread the word about your research initiative to bring it to the awareness of potential participants. The most successful research drives tend to have several advertising and marketing campaigns going simultaneously. They use social media marketing, keyword marketing, email newsletters, flyers, billboards, and a variety of other channels to draw people in.
Highlight the privacy safeguards you’ve put in place
Frequently, people don’t want to participate in surveys due to privacy, safety, and data misuse-related concerns. If you can put these fears to rest, you will have an easier time getting people on board. Suggestions include having a transparent data use policy in place, giving participants more choices about how their data is used, and instituting privacy safeguards. Show participants that you care about their privacy and safety to win their trust.
Incentivize participants with rewards
Participating in market research, whether that’s a survey or something else, can be hard work. You’ll have an easier time securing people’s participation if you incentivize it. Consider offering rewards like cash, gift cards, prepaid cards, or making charitable donations in their names. Using a digital gift card API makes fast work of it, personalizing it for your participants and including your company’s branding and custom messaging.
Use 3D marketing
Another clever way to upgrade your marketing game is by using 3D painter options to include eye-catching images to help generate some additional buzz around your business. These kinds of images are great for sharing via social media or adding to your own personal website, and can do wonders for expanding your customer base.
Partner with an experienced firm
When your company is new to market research and doesn’t have in-house research expertise, partnering up with an experienced agency can be a worthwhile investment. A good partner should be able to help you with finding qualified participants, creating relevant surveys, and designing a pocket-friendly reward program. Partners could be marketing companies, recruitment firms, or companies specializing in data science.
Conclusion
For the best results, try to put yourself in your ideal market research participants’ shoes. That way, you’ll know where to find them and how best to incentivize them with rewards. From 3D images to offering incentives for participation, there are plenty of options out there. Finally, don’t forget to ask them the right questions and vet the answers. That’s the key to extracting relevant, accurate data that you can build upon.
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