4 Market Research Mistakes To Avoid

It’s a mistake made by many. Getting an idea for a fresh new business is so exciting that there’s no consideration given to the fact that the market has no use or no desire for the product or service. Because of this, a large amount of money may be invested and later lost due to lack of good planning. To avoid that, take care not to commit these market research mistakes:

Failure to do Market Research

One expert said that failure to do market research is like driving from Texas to New York City without a map. You would go in a multitude of directions and would probably never get there. If you are starting a business or developing a product and you didn’t bother to see if the market was interested in what you have to offer, you’re on track to waste a lot of time and money.

Relying only on Secondary Research

This market research mistake will take a little bit of explanation. There are two types of research: Primary and secondary. Primary research is research that you do on your own. You may conduct phone or online surveys, questionnaires, or focus groups. This is information that is specific to the business or product you would like to introduce to the market. It takes more time and expense but you can insure that the information is targeted perfectly.

Secondary research is research that has already been completed by somebody else. Secondary data may include market data that you purchased, consulting services from industry experts, and competitor information. This is cheaper because somebody else already paid for it but it’s also less targeted. It may be from your industry but it isn’t tightly targeted to your product or new business.

Pay the extra money and invest the extra time in to the primary research. This will return much more statistically significant results.

Going 100% Online

If it’s easy to find, everybody already has it. If, in your market research, you rely only on public information, you may run in to a few problems: First, if everybody has this information, you may develop a product or business based on the status quo. Next, free information is hard to verify and there is no financial incentive for the authors to take great care in providing you with the most accurate data.

Head to your public library or small business center and gather data or spend the extra money to purchase industry specific data from the research companies that cover your potential industry. Not everybody is willing to pay for this information so you’re sure to have an edge.

Surveying only your Friends

There are numerous reasons why this is a bad idea but your friends have a bias. They don’t want to hurt your feelings  and they believe in your ability to perform. Do your market research by polling people who have no problem hurting your feelings. You’ll thank them later.

Not breaking these marketing research mistakes will put you ahead of the curve when you come to market. Products and businesses take too much time and money to create to not do exhaustive research before investing money in to actual development.