Mastering Market Research for Online Success
✨ Quick Links from this Episode
Free Market Research Guide: https://duxburydigital.thrivecart.com/market-research-guide/
You have an amazing idea for a course, product, or service, but does your audience think it's a great idea? How do you know if they're interested in what you're selling (before you even advertise the product or service)? If you’ve ever been haunted by fears of a flopped launch or lack of sales, you need to invest time in market research strategies!
What is Market Research?
Market research is the act of gathering information about your audience's preferences, such as their pain points, desires, challenges, goals, where they hope to be later on, and so on. Typically, this is done every three or six months or at a specific time when you need to collect information (like before you launch a new product or offer).
When you conduct market research, it’s best to gather data from your specific audience. For example, sending a survey to your email list or surveying your Instagram audience. But when you’re just getting started in business, you may sometimes need to look outside your own sphere to gather information.
How Market Research Benefits Entrepreneurs
At the end of the day, you want your business to be successful, and a lot of that success comes with understanding your audience. In general, we tend to make a lot of assumptions about what our audience wants and needs. And, spoiler, these assumptions aren’t always right or see the whole picture.
When you implement market research strategies, you have a better grasp of your audience. You understand what they want, how they want to receive content from you, the kind of messaging that appeals to them, and so on. This makes you better with marketing, talking about your offers, and generating content ideas. Plus, it tells you what kind of services and products your audience is interested in (or at the very least, the problems they need help solving).
The more you understand your audience, the more sales and bookings you’re going to see. Some of my best-selling services have come about because I've heard the needs of my clients who've said, “I really struggle with this”, and I created something for that need. You can do that same thing whether you're a service provider or you create digital products.
Market Research Questions to Ask
Hopefully, by now, you agree that market research strategies are a key part of your business success. So, what kinds of market research questions should you ask?
#1 What are your current challenges when it comes to ____?
Let’s say you ask your audience what their challenge is with creating content. They might say finding the time or sitting down to write it. You can then use these challenges on your website to say, “Can you relate to feeling XYZ?” And offer your product or service as a solution.
#2 What is one word you would use to describe ____?
For example, what is one word you would use to describe writing your content from scratch? People might respond with stressful, overwhelming, boring, or dreadful. That language can then go right into your messaging: “Is content creation overwhelming your to-do list? Is it adding extra stress to your plate?”
#3 What have you tried before to help with ____?
Let’s go back to the content example. I might ask, what have you tried before to help with content creation? People will probably say using AI or swipe files. Clearly, those strategies are not working, or else they would be overwhelmed. So, you can say, “I know you’ve tried using AI, but you’re still putting in too much time editing and revising your content.” I can add this to a sales page or use it when I talk about my offer in my Instagram stories.
How to Gather Market Research
Now that you have a few questions you want to ask your audience, it’s time for the next phase of the market research strategy: actually asking your audience! There are a ton of ways you can gather this data but, as I mentioned before, it’s best if you stick to polling your audience (where possible).
Here are a few ways you can gather data:
Create a survey you can share across platforms
Put informal polls on Instagram
Ask a question in your Facebook group
Ask your subscribers to respond to an email
Conduct keyword research or use Answer the Public
Ask current clients, members, or buyers for feedback (also called Voice of Customer)
Use product reviews and testimonials
Browse online forums, like niche Facebook groups or Reddit
Schedule coffee chats with ideal clients
If you’re using any time-consuming market research strategy, like a survey or a coffee chat, I recommend giving people an incentive to provide feedback. For example, you can do a gift card drawing or offer a percentage off a product or service.
What to Do with Your Market Research
Let’s fast forward in time and pretend you’ve implemented some of these market research strategies and have the data. Well, what now? What do you do with all of those? But there are some really impactful things that market research can do.
#1 Refine Your Messaging: Take the feedback people have given you and adjust the messaging on your website, sales page, product descriptions, and so on.
#2 Create a Cheat Sheet: When you comb through your research, look for common words, phrases, or themes across the data. Then, create a little cheat sheet for yourself in a Google Doc or even on a notes app. Every time you get on a discovery call or you’re writing an email about this offer, refer to this cheat sheet so you can nail your pitch.
#3 Create Winning Content: Now that you have a better idea of your audience’s wants, needs, and desires, create content you know they’ll find helpful and that speaks directly to their needs or desires.
#4 Create Products and Offers: Again, you now know what your audience needs! So create products and offers that solve those issues. It could be as simple as a $5 PDF that guides them through an issue or a $500 product that transforms the way they do business. The solution doesn’t have to be crazy or expensive for it to be desirable and effective.
Implementing market research strategies is your key to making more sales and having more effective marketing. To collect market research, you can do things like send out surveys or conduct interviews with past clients. Then take this information to improve your business and give your audience what they’re craving.