Best Practices for Conducting Market ResearchBy Guest Post Ideas are the strength behind marketing teamsgood ideas, misguided plans, proposals that succeed or fail. There are many instances, however, of businesses moving forward with new products and campaigns that miss the mark due to companies neglecting to conduct proper market research.In 198, !oke notoriously prematurely reacted to research that it conducted. "lind taste tests con#rmed that consumers preferred $epsi%ssweeter &avor, so !oke responded by replacing its &agship cola drink with an alternative that better matched the competitor%s taste, and rebranded it 'ew !oke . The (merican public%s reaction was displeasure, the new formula was discontinued, and the original classic soda was brought back.The problem was that the data wasn%t embraced holistically, and )ust a piece of the pu**le was used to make enormous changes +leading to tampering with the core product that brought !oca,!ola success-. If all available information had been considered, !oke%s marketing e.ecutives would have known that !oke%s taste takes a second seat to a myriad of other factors that keep its consumers loyal and coming back/ the penetrating message of 0!oke is the 1eal Thing,2 the nostalgia factor, and aclassic all,(merican image.In response to #nally listening to customers and learning about their loyalty to the original product, the soft drink was renamed !oca,!ola !lassic, signifying that it isn%t going anywhere.3nlike !oca,!ola, many companies and startups do not have the budgets or brand loyalty to bounce right back +or even come out ahead as in !oke%scasepeople were so happy to have the original soda back, sales shot up- and shrug off a ma)or malfunction or failure. 4owever, there are several best practices that should be considered before launching a new product, feature, or campaign.Market Research: Best Practices5arket research is often neglected, and many companies go forth and carry out plans without collecting and analy*ing enough information to support their decisions. 5arket research should be conducted on a continuous basis and companies should always be listening to their users.5arket research surveysallow you to gain insights about your users 6uickly, affordably, and effectively. These insights can be used to do a variety of things within a company/ measuring satisfaction, identifying trends, and developing new products and features.Defne Your Scope: 7ou should de#ne the breadth of your reach and know who your potential customers are based on what your product offering is. 8or e.ample, 8acebook%s customers are businesses and consumers alike who want to connect with others9 (pple%s target market is people who can pay a premium for consumer electronics.:nce you have a tangible goal of who might be interested in your product, narrow your focus down to why they should purchase from you instead of your competitors. ;o you offer the only product currently available that does abor ?tatistics-, as well as data from trade associations. 5arket data provided from the government is generally accurate, well,reviewed, and most importantly for early,stage startups, available for cheap or for free.Through your research, you should be able to identify competitors and geta sense of who your target market is. Then, you are ready to proceed with your task of capturing 6uality, actionable data. If you%re trying to gain insights and information about what kinds of features would be most popular for your new product, you need to establish a foundation. ;oes your product solve a problem that people are e.periencing= ;oes it #ll a need= ;oes it offer something useful and desirable that competitors don%t provide= Is your uni6ue selling proposition attractive enough for users to leave a familiar product for yours=:nce you have enough compelling data that there is a need for your product, then you can begin building it, while keeping an eye on the pace of the competition, new technologies, and market changes. If you already have a core product and want to conduct market research to determine what sorts of new features your users would like, or what changes would be bene#cial to their e.perience, then you%ll want to go directly to the users and ask them 6uestions. !ontact them via surveys or through whatever channels of communication they use to contact you +i.e., social media, blogs, forums, email, etc.-.Design Your Survey to Be Simple. 5ake sure that your survey appropriately speaks to the survey taker. ?implicity is crucial9 ask 6uestions that are clear, concise, and will help you procure the speci#c knowledge you%d like to gain. ;o not ask leading 6uestions, or any 6uestion that subtly prompts the respondent to answer in a certain way. It%s better to allow for neutral and 0'@(2 answers than to get non,responses mas6uerading as real answers that will result in faulty and biased data.( leading 6uestion/ How fast was the car going when it smashed into the bus? This 6uestion implies that the car was at fault, and the word 0smashed2 implies a high speed.( better 6uestion/ How fast was each vehicle going when the accident happened? This 6uestion does not assign any blame or pre)udgment, and is the preferable choice in a survey.Select the Appropriate Structure for Your Questions.The way you structure your survey will affect how you analy*e the results. $rior to creating your survey, consider the answer styles that will make the most sense for your 6uestions/ Categorical answersThese are unordered labels and are great for categori*ing people into groups. 7ou can create your survey such that all of the 6uestions are based on an initial categorical answer that the survey taker selects. Ordinal answersThese responses are provided in a format where they are scored along a range +e.g., 0strongly disagree2 to 0strongly agree2-. 'ote/ In many cases, there should be an option for 0'@(2 for when a 6uestion doesn%t apply to the respondent9 if a respondent is forced to choose randomly, your results may be skewed. Interval answersInterval answers are provided in ranges +e.g., 0ages A,BC2-. Intervals should be e6ual si*es +e.g., #ve,year blocks-, or else they should be treated like categorical answers. Fill-in-the-blank form felds:pen,ended answers are great for optional responses, andalso provide an opportunity for respondents to get anything they%d like off their chests. These answers re6uire more time to look at manually, but can provide valuable 6ualitative data.Follo !p. (lways thank your survey takers for their time in helping your company improve your product and brand. If you had offered an incentive to #ll out a survey, such as a chance to win a gift card, then follow up by saying something along the lines of 0Thank you. 7ou have now been entered to win a D1CC gift cardE27ou can drive these connections further by following up later with something relevant that was shared and to improve a user%s e.perience with your brand. 8or e.ample, if people had checked off that they wanted a certain new feature, and the feature is now live, let them know that the re6uested feature is now available. +0Thank you for offering your valuable feedback. Fe%ve listened, and have moved forward with