How can businesses improve their products and services to more efficiently meet customer needs? The solution is always to get to know and understand your target market. Conducting market research is key to any successful business strategy.

Good research gives key insights into your target customer base: who they are, what they need and want, and what they anticipate from your company. Knowing market research trends is just as important as conducting market research itself.

To best understand how you can improve your firm, consider conducting competitor research, analyzing engagement metrics, and studying your audience. These are great places to start! However, what do you do when your current methods are no longer useful in today’s business world?

Of course, you can no longer solely depend on in-person audience surveys and questionnaires for data collection. We are no longer in the 60s. The world is constantly changing, so adapting your strategies as times change is important.

Knowing market research trends can assist you in staying ahead of the competition. Let’s look at some of the most popular market research trends for 2022, so you can keep up with your customers and expand your company.

Market Research Industry Overview

For many businesses, market research has morphed from a “nice to have” business function into an “essential” one. In the digital era, market research is no longer conducted through long, tedious questionnaires sent to thousands of individuals or months-long focus groups that yield outdated results.

Customers have different needs and demands, just as the COVID epidemic itself. As a result, the significance of accurate data and rapid pivots has become apparent to everyone. For example, look at Square, a payment processing firm for small enterprises that recently announced a name change and comprehensive rebranding to keep up with the demand for blockchain and crypto.

Alfred is another company that made significant changes in reaction to the pandemic outbreak. The company shut down its physical locations and modified its business model, allowing clients to get their coffee at home through a subscription program.

What Is an Emerging Market Economy?

A country with an emerging market economy is one whose economy is gradually improving and becoming more industrialized. It generates a below-average per capita income and is experiencing rapid growth due to high production levels and significant industrialization.

Emerging market economies account for 80% of the world’s population and more than 70% of GDP growth. Countries with an emerging market economy come in different sizes – like India or Morocco. Both countries are expanding their economies and globalizing rapidly, though they have very different Gross Domestic Product (GDP) values and population numbers.

Significance of an Emerging Market Economy

Developing countries’ emerging market economies are integral in boosting global economic growth. Emerging market countries account for more than half of global economic growth.

Three of the world’s largest economies are predicted to be China, India, and the United States in the future. Two of the three countries have economies that are increasing. As more and more investments are being made in emerging market economies, investors have confidence in these countries.

For instance, hedge funds contribute to these economies by helping them raise more funds. Ultimately, the increase in foreign investments bolsters trading volume in the local stock exchange and provides additional funding for companies to thrive long-term.

The Value of Market Research

There is no doubt how crucial market research is to the success of any firm. Market analysis should be done regularly, according to experts. This is the foundation of a successful company in a dynamic environment. Additionally, it provides more significant insights into your consumer needs and behavior, preferences, and the overall market landscape.

Customers’ values and actions are readily molded by the mass media’s presence and immersion in their everyday lives. So it’s no surprise that your clients’ demands frequently change when you’re exposed to new information daily.

Understanding how your target audience changes and grows over time is essential. But unfortunately, if you’re looking for accurate results, in-house market research will rarely assist. This is why you now see a plethora of specialized companies.

Impartial, precise, and independent data might be far more beneficial to your firm than a quick study conducted by one of your workers. Below are some of the most valuable insights into your firm that can be obtained through systematic market research.

Customer-Centric Approach

Companies focusing on B2C and B2B interactions can use market research to improve customer relations. Understanding consumer requirements is critical since customers are the driving force behind every company’s success.

However, obtaining such data is difficult for big companies. They are constantly bogged down by bureaucracy and infighting, leaving little time to focus on their clients. Due to this, their product development and client delivery process suffer immensely.

The distinction between in-house and outsourced market research efforts is that impartial findings will be provided in the case of the former. But unfortunately, conducting market research in-house often delivers the results that upper management wants to hear rather than accurately portraying the data.

When this happens, enterprises that focus on a consumer-centric approach become irrelevant. Yet, in many cases, third-party market research can help you meet and exceed consumers’ needs.

Informed, Researched Decisions

Knowing the market in which you operate may help you make better decisions and enable your firm to expand. The greatest instrument to utilize is market research. Competition has become increasingly sensitive with globalization. It’s more difficult to beat it and establish oneself as a market leader these days than ever.

However, having the correct market knowledge gives your company a competitive advantage. In addition, regular market research may help your organization save time and money when making decisions.

Improve Brand Image

While we all understand the significance of consumer market research, the value of B2B research cannot be overstated. No matter your target audience, these interventions can help your company understand them better to improve your market positioning.

 

Focus groups are most effective for this purpose. Taking this approach, organizations can obtain more reliable insights into what their consumers think about their firm in the market and learn how they feel about it. You will also understand how the public sees your brand by doing this research.

The information acquired might be used by companies to develop more effective branding strategies and improve their image to the changing consumer. In addition, the insights offered by brand-new entities may assist your firm in being a step ahead of the competition in competitive markets.

Market Insights

The environment in which your firm operates has a significant impact on your growth possibilities. Analytics and marketing research can help you adjust and modify quickly, increasing the probability that you will develop successful sales and marketing plans.

Market insights from market research may help you identify new consumers, prospective clients, collaborators, and their attitudes. Moreover, these discoveries have shown to be a great way to use your assets as efficiently as possible.

Not only does market research help you understand your consumers better, but it also plays a role in uncovering what influences buying decisions and how people behave when interacting with your brand.

Improve Communication

It’s essential to speak with your target audience more effectively if you want to increase their engagement and enhance your market position. Developing, implementing, and modifying creative ideas significantly impacts how your audience responds to your message. The best way to improve your brand’s messaging is by appealing directly to your audience and speaking to their needs, preferences, and concerns.

Essential Market Research Skills for Today’s Professionals

Data Analysis Skills

In its most basic form, market research involves collecting a significant amount of data and extracting useful information about a certain line of business or industry. As a result, data analysis is essential to a market research analyst’s work.

Specifically, market research analysts must understand four fundamental types of data analysis: descriptive data analysis, diagnostic data analysis, predictive data analysis, and prescriptive data analysis.

Data Collection Skills

Besides working with data companies already, market research analysts are frequently tasked with collecting new data. Because of this, they need to be proficient in many data collection methods such as interpersonal and interview skills, survey creation, and data curation.

Communication Skills

One of the fundamental reasons for performing market research is to gain company knowledge that can help you develop a strategy. However, in a business setting, data isn’t always sufficient. That’s why a market research analyst must also have strong communication abilities.

This makes it simpler for them to communicate the significance of their findings to stakeholders, who may utilize them in making decisions. They cannot work productively in a business organization without those skills.

Data Visualization Skills

Market research specialists must master how to produce effective data visualizations that may help others understand their findings. Data visualizations serve as graphical representations of data to highlight significant patterns and insights. In addition, they enable stakeholders who aren’t familiar with data analysis to see and comprehend the work of a market research analyst.

Knowledge of Human Behaviour and Psychology

Market research analysts must thoroughly grasp human behavior and psychology since their role is to comprehend how customers will act and react to goods, services, and business initiatives. This is because market research does not always provide straightforward solutions to every company’s problem.

That’s where the art of market research analysis approaches becoming a craft rather than a science. Market research experts must utilize their understanding of psychology to develop relevant research that will provide value.

As a result, they need to be intuitive and have a keen understanding of consumer behavior. Otherwise, there would be no way to focus on certain topics of interest. In addition, the background knowledge aids the market researcher in establishing baseline assumptions that will guide their study.

2022 – Emerging Market Research Trends

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Businesses today are fortunate to have such a large volume of data to help them understand what their customers want and need. However, immensity has two sides. How can you manage and analyze such enormous data while doing other activities?

AI has been in use in the business sector for a long time. Companies have been using it for a decade, but it has become even more integral in 2022. AI can help humans process large amounts of data by taking on some of the tasks that wouldn’t be possible for people to do alone.

Automating tasks with AI and machine learning can help your company reduce expenses spent on employee wages. Imagine seeing deep insights across millions of data sets in minutes. Looks like magic? Emotion AI uses state-of-the-art technology to examine facial expressions, eye movements, voices, and other nonverbal communication to discern a customer’s feelings.

These insights can improve customer surveys, or more accurate findings may replace the survey altogether. AI isn’t a one-stop shop for human capital, but it’s an essential component. You still need people to develop growth ideas and apply their knowledge to the company daily.

AI is a growing market research trend that, when used correctly, can help expand your firm and reach new customers. However, it’s essential to supplement AI with experienced human talent.

Humanity in the Customer Experience

The data we collect from our customers changes as market research trends evolve. Today, it’s not enough to track technical factors like age, location, and gender. Instead, customers, today want a personalized customer experience, which you can’t provide without psychographic data.

Are they introverted or extroverted? You’ll also want to determine where their attitudes and beliefs differ and align your own with theirs. Afterward, you draw on those personal insights to make their experience more humane.

A check-in email a few weeks after their last purchase could ask how the product has helped them solve a specific problem. Or address your customers by name when your chatbot communicates with them online. According to a survey by Forbes, 41% of CEOs believe that greater shopping carts result in increased sales and greater profit margins.

Mobile App Intelligence

The average person spends approximately 90% of their mobile time on apps, and with people opening apps an average of 11 times per day – it’s evident that apps hold a great deal of power for almost all businesses. It’s no longer a luxury to be able to keep track of and monitor app intelligence; it’s a business necessity.

Across all industries, the demand for mobile app information is increasing. Observing web and app traffic together makes it easy to determine how consumer habits change. Additionally, this allows leaders and analysts to study apps’ effects on their market.

This provides the data you’ll need to decide whether or not an app investment is appropriate for you. In addition, organizations can use data to understand how mobile-first consumers spend their time and money online. This understanding gives organizations a complete view of the digital landscape and helps them make more informed decisions.

Rapid market changes are becoming the norm, with technology propelling increased demand for applications and revolutionary entrepreneurial companies entering nearly every sector.

App intelligence allows people to monitor potential threats and respond quickly and effectively. However, if you don’t have all the data, your decisions about strategy and development will only be partially informed. This might affect what happens later on.

Social Listening

Social listening tools have been available for quite some time. So, why has social listening emerged as one of the most popular trends in market research? One reason is the rise of the Metaverse, which may guarantee that your consumers are even more engaged on the internet.

Another important point to consider is real-time. You’ll be able to stand out from the crowd with real-time social media competitive analysis. In addition, constantly monitoring your customer’s reactions to your content will prevent any harmful misunderstandings.

Take actionable insights from internet discussions and track social media interaction rates. Mentioning your brand is not the only thing to look out for; you should also search for common terms and phrases. Reminders and alerts will keep you up with the ever-active social media world.

Monitoring Adjacent Markets

You might not anticipate market research to develop new ideas for a new market. However, the recent outbreak of COVID-19 demonstrated how crucial a company’s ability is to shift its focus rapidly, and without understanding other areas your business could be involved in, that wouldn’t be possible.

Take, for instance, an international event that hits your business. As a result, the people you’re trying to reach can’t afford or use your product anymore.

How do you bounce back? Perhaps you’re attempting to reach a new, specialized audience. But conversely, you could also explore how to change your product so that it better meets the needs of your existing clients.

By expanding across adjacent markets, Uber is an excellent example of a business that considered adjacent market considerations while conducting research.

As traditional ridesharing began to fade, the adjacent food delivery industry exploded during the epidemic, and Uber capitalized on that. So when researching your market, take some time to learn about customers in related markets as well – it could give your business a fighting chance.

Market-Tech Audits

What methods do you use to get information about your target market? Even though Martech continues to develop with new firms providing the most cutting-edge technologies, it doesn’t mean you should invest in them all.

One of the most significant market research trends today is a market-tech audit. It’s time for a change after attempting and failing to implement numerous methods and software over the previous two years. Consider how many solutions have similar features.

Do you find that you’re doubling your efforts and having difficulty eliminating redundancies as you conduct research? Is the tech you invested in making your work easier slowing down your productivity? Then, critically examine every solution and pay attention to the ones that offer extensive data analytics.

Consumer and Brand Value Alignment

The newest generation of customers wants to know what your company represents. They’re more intrigued by a business’s core values than superficial details. Customers increasingly seek to invest in businesses whose values align with their own. If being eco-friendly is essential to your target audience, be sure that it reflects your brand’s values and policies.

A beautiful mission statement isn’t enough. If the company image you present to the public doesn’t reflect what usually goes on behind closed doors, your customers will take notice.

Social listening is a way to stay updated with the latest market research trends. Use social media platforms to research how consumers view your brand. Look for areas that may need improvement and work on them accordingly. The result will be increased customer loyalty.

Automation and Efficiency

Companies can improve their productivity by staying current with market research trends in AI and tech audits. However, automation is more than just those two techs. Yes, AI can help you analyze mountains of information to uncover key insights. However, on the other hand, where else can you discover efficiency?

Surveys that are shorter and smarter will resonate better with the mobile-first generation. Most individuals are not capable or interested in completing a 30-question survey. Instead, focus your energy on surveying your mobile audience for the most concise yet rich information. You’ll be more productive if you pay attention to the most important aspects of your data.

How Can You Determine Which New Marketing Technology to Use?

Choosing which technology to use in your company is based on your company’s demands and your consumers’ expectations. It’s typically better not to adopt new marketing techniques or trends unless you know what you’re doing, especially if you’re only adopting them because other companies have already begun using them.

“Although the world is gradually becoming driven by tech, small and mid-size businesses should instead focus on which tech trends will help them increase profits,” said Ryan Gould, vice president of strategy and marketing services at Elevation Marketing. So how do you go about that? The following questions you need to ask yourself are as follows:

• Who is my target audience?
• What parts of my business can I improve, and where are those areas?
• Can this technology help me bridge the gaps in my business?
• Do I have the resources to keep this technology operational for years to come?

Incorporate these questions into your thought process to avoid succumbing to an irrelevant marketing trend for your business. Take a good look at the marketing trends for 2022 while you’re at it, but don’t forget to look at where your business is now.

Final Words: 

The latest market research trends continue to develop slowly but also bring forth new market research methods. So here’s the deal: market research is more thrilling than ever! You will significantly improve your market research strategies by implementing AI, inclusivity, social listening, and humanity.

However, without keeping up-to-date with the newest market research trends, you can’t take advantage of it. Use market research insights to help your business reach new heights. You’ll meet new customers and show your existing ones how valuable they are.