If you’re like most business managers and owners, you probably realize the importance of doing market research. You know that understanding your customers is essential to success.
But do you know how to do market research? And perhaps more importantly, are you able to do it in an efficient way that won’t add too much time or expense to your operations?
If not, then we’d like to help! It turns out that doing fast and inexpensive market research is easier than ever before. And the best part? You can do it through texting!! We know it might sound a little strange at first, but keep reading for all the details about how this works.
| Takeaways |
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| 1. Efficiency is Key: The blog emphasizes the importance of conducting marketing research efficiently, possibly leveraging text-based methods for quicker data collection and analysis. |
| 2. Innovative Techniques: Consider adopting revolutionary approaches to marketing research, as discussed in the blog, to stay ahead in the competitive landscape. |
| 3. Time-saving Strategies: Discover 23 simple ways to save time while running marketing research, as suggested in the blog, to streamline your research process. |
| 4. Embrace Research: Overcome worries and embrace the power of marketing research, as shared in personal experiences within the blog, to unlock valuable insights. |
| 5. Brand Loyalty Insights: Learn how to perform marketing research on brand loyalty, a crucial aspect of understanding consumer preferences and strengthening brand-consumer connections. |
1. Make Sure You Are Talking To The Right People
a. You need to know who you are talking to before you start talking with them.
b. You also need to know who your target market is not so that when they don’t respond, you don’t waste time trying again later (or worse, twice).
c. With some of my clients, I’ve found that knowing why they want the survey will help us get better results out of it that’s always good knowledge for me as a researcher! If a client wants a survey because they want data on their customers’ preferences and behaviors.
Then asking questions about demographics or past purchases wouldn’t be very useful because those answers can change over time as customers change their behavior due to new products or promotions being offered by other stores nearby (or even one mile away).
On the flip side though…
When it comes to understanding market trends and consumer behavior, leveraging data is key. Dive into the world of market research with our guide on using Google Trends for market research, and discover how to gain valuable insights from search data.
2. Use The Right Words
As a marketer, you know that using the right words can help you stand out. The right word for your audience helps you make an impact and get your message across.
The right word is meaningful and relevant to customers. It’s a word that customers can relate to, understand, read and remember. It’s also one that makes them feel something and if it causes them to act on your messaging, all the better!
3. Ask The Right Questions, And Ask Them In The Right Way
Open-ended vs. closed-ended. The key to asking good questions is making sure that you are asking open-ended ones. Closed-ended questions are those that can be answered with a yes or a no and don’t allow for much room for interpretation.
Open-ended questions give respondents more freedom to provide context and details around their answers.
Easy to answer vs. difficult. Answering hard questions takes time, and your survey participants will thank you if they don’t have to spend five minutes on each question!
Your survey should be concise while still getting all of the information you need from your participants (and it’ll also make it easier for them).
Important vs unimportant/irrelevant/redundant/duplicative etc… You know what’s important for your business but do some other people?
You might not think there’s any need to ask about something if everyone already knows the answer… but if someone doesn’t know the answer yet, then maybe it’s worth covering in your survey so that they can learn about it too!
Traditional methods meet innovation in marketing research. Discover the exciting possibilities in our article about revolutionary approaches to marketing research, and explore how groundbreaking strategies can transform your insights.
4. Use Your Customers’ Language, Not Yours
The goal of this step is to use the words your customers use. It’s not about being right or wrong, it’s about finding out what they think.
When asking open-ended questions, you can use the word “I” or “we” instead of making it about you (or your company). I recommend using these phrases in order:
Use the same words that your customers use. Do not make up new words! Your customers will see through that and think you are trying to trick them into saying something they don’t mean.
Use the words that your customers use to describe your product or service. This will give them a chance to say what they like and dislike about what you offer them now – before any changes are made!
Use the words that your customers use to describe themselves (e.g., age group, gender). This helps determine where our products would appeal most effectively when we market them later on downline sales channels like hotels/motels etcetera.
So there’s no waste due just because we forgot some detail here too when talking with people who could’ve been interested in buying something else again tomorrow if given another chance.
5. Use Text Messages To Reach More People
Texting may be the most personal way to reach people. As opposed to email or social media, texting doesn’t feel intrusive. It is fast and inexpensive, which means you can reach a lot more people than you would with other forms of communication.
Texting also provides you with an easy method for reaching individuals who aren’t on social media or don’t want to use their phones as much as others do (for example, older people).
6. Consider Using Pictures Or Video, As Well As Text, In Your Messages
If you’re using text-based marketing, consider using pictures or video in your messages. It would be prudent to do so.
For one thing, messages with images and videos get 18% more clicks than those without them. And the rise of mobile has made this even more true: 53% of all video plays come from mobile devices now, compared to just 30% four years ago.
It’s also important to think about how these images and videos will be received by your audience and how they’re going to feel when they see them or watch them!
If they make people feel something good inside, that’s a good thing; if they make people feel something bad inside (or get frustrated), then maybe you should reconsider using them at all…
Efficiency matters in the world of marketing research. Learn practical tips and tricks for streamlining your process with our guide on saving time in marketing research, and make the most of your valuable resources.
7. Engage With Your Customers In Real-Time
The real-time engagement that comes from the instant gratification of text messaging is crucial for any brand to keep a pulse on its audience.
By staying in touch with their customers, brands can gain valuable insights into their needs and preferences. This information can then be used to tailor marketing campaigns and product development strategies for maximum impact.
In addition, this kind of real-time engagement offers an opportunity for consumers to interact with businesses in ways that weren’t previously possible by phone or email alone and it’s not just a matter of convenience!
Customers are seeking out companies that offer fast responses so they can feel like they’re being heard by the business itself instead of just another customer service rep (or automated bot).
8. Create And Maintain A Usable Customer Database
Creating and maintaining a usable customer database is critical to any company’s success. A good database of customers will help you understand what they need, how they spend their money, and where they spend it.
Here are the top 5 things that you need to keep your database up to date:
Keep The Database Secure – Keep your database secure from hackers by using strong passwords that change regularly. It’s also important to delete inactive customers from your list so hackers can’t use that information against you later on down the line.
Update The Information You Collect On Customers – Make sure all information about each person in your database is current by adding new email addresses when given out at events or through other channels like social media sites like Facebook or Twitter.
If someone moves house, make sure their address details are updated too so they don’t miss out on any future offers or promotions!
Embrace the power of marketing research and conquer your worries. Gain insights from personal experiences in our piece about embracing marketing research, and discover how to turn challenges into opportunities.
9. Keep It Simple And Actionable
Make it clear. Whether you’re trying to sell something or just get people’s attention, the most important thing is to be direct. Don’t make your messages confusing or complicated, because then people won’t know what your offer is or how they should respond.
Keep it actionable. It’s too easy for people just to swipe away an ad on their phone without reading it (especially if they’re busy), so make sure that any message you send them has a call-to-action of some sort within it that tells them exactly what they need to do next:
Download an app, fill out a form with more information about your product/service/cause, and sign up for email updates about upcoming events related to whatever cause/product/ service at hand…whatever!
Clear instruction on what needs doing next will keep things from getting lost in translation.
10. Take Advantage Of Low-Cost Or No-Cost Research Ideas
There are plenty of ways to get started with doing your research at the speed of texting. Here are some ideas:
Use your existing customer base for research. Did you know that most people would rather text than call or email? Now is a great time to reach out to them and see how they feel about your company, products, or services.
You can also use social media channels like Twitter and Facebook Messenger as another way to ask questions without asking too many questions.
Use account data. If you have an existing database of customers, check it for any insight into what they think about your business you may be surprised!
For instance, if someone has called in because their credit card was stolen, ask them why they chose this particular brand of credit card in the first place (and don’t forget to thank them).
Or ask why they decided not to buy something from one of our competitors but instead choose us? This kind of information could help us improve our marketing efforts moving forward and after all isn’t that what we’re trying to do here?
11. Make Sure You Get Enough Responses For Good Analysis
Getting enough responses to your survey is crucial for high-quality analysis. Here are some tips for getting the most responses:
Use the right questions, and ask them in the right way. Make sure you’re asking about topics that matter to your customers your surveys should be meaningful to them, not just marketers like you!
Be specific about exactly what information you want from each respondent, especially if you’re asking multiple questions.
Use customers’ language, not yours. Your customers know their needs better than anyone else does and they can express those needs better too!
Don’t talk down to users by assuming they don’t understand certain words or phrases; use terms customers use when describing themselves and their problems so that they feel included in the conversation (and more willing to give thoughtful replies).
Consider using text messages as part of your marketing outreach strategy rather than just emails and websites especially if there’s an age group whose members tend not to make purchases online.
But would still benefit from receiving offers via SMS or other mobile channels (like Facebook Messenger).
You’ll reach more people faster with this method because it allows businesses to access trends data at scale without necessarily having huge budgets set aside specifically for advertising campaigns on social media platforms like Twitter or Instagram.
Which might otherwise require additional funds spent upfront before any results could be achieved.
Understanding brand loyalty is crucial for success. Delve into the world of consumer preferences with our guide on performing marketing research on brand loyalty, and uncover insights that can strengthen your brand’s connection with its audience.
12. Don’t Be Afraid Of Automating Some Steps Of The Process
In this day and age, several tools can help you streamline your research, from using chatbots to answering survey questions in real-time.
However, it’s important to make sure that any automation tool you use is up-to-date and reliable. You don’t want to end up with an unreliable tool or have the wrong information sent out in an automated message!
13. Be Honest With Yourself About What Information Is Useful For Your Business Decisions And What’s Not
To do this, you need to be honest with yourself about what information is really useful for your business decisions and what’s not.
If you run a restaurant and are trying to decide whether to add a new item to the menu, that information would be useful for your business decision.
However, if you own an online store selling books on Amazon but want more data about why people buy books on Amazon (or anything else related), it’s probably not so helpful because it doesn’t help you make better decisions in your specific situation.
14. Care About The Replies You Get From Customers, Even Negative Ones
Negative feedback is a great opportunity to learn and improve. Use it to your advantage!
Negative feedback is not a personal attack on you or your company. It’s just someone giving you some helpful information about what they think could be improved about your product or service.
Maybe they didn’t like the color of the logo on the website, or maybe they had trouble using a certain feature in an app.
Whatever it is, some things can be learned from negative feedback that can make products better for everyone involved including happy customers as well as those who weren’t so thrilled with their experience!
Conclusion
Marketing research through text messages is something you can easily do for your business. It’s fast and affordable, and it helps you reach more customers who are likely to respond.
But perhaps most importantly, the responses from customers will help shape your marketing strategy in a way that will make it more effective than ever before.
Further Reading
Explore these resources to deepen your understanding of text-based marketing and market research:
Unlocking Consumer Insights Through Mobile Surveys Discover how mobile surveys can provide valuable consumer insights and enhance your market research efforts.
6 Statistics That Will Change Your Mind About Text Marketing Dive into the world of text marketing with eye-opening statistics that highlight its impact and potential benefits.
44 Mind-Blowing SMS Marketing and Texting Statistics Uncover fascinating statistics about SMS marketing and texting that showcase their effectiveness in reaching and engaging audiences.
FAQs
Got questions? Here are answers to some common inquiries about text-based marketing and market research:
What is the role of text marketing in modern business strategies?
Text marketing plays a crucial role in modern business strategies by enabling direct communication with customers through SMS, fostering engagement and driving sales.
How can mobile surveys enhance traditional market research methods?
Mobile surveys offer the advantage of reaching participants where they are most comfortable—on their mobile devices—resulting in higher response rates and more accurate data collection.
What are some key benefits of incorporating SMS marketing into a marketing campaign?
SMS marketing offers benefits such as instant delivery, high open rates, and the ability to reach a wide audience quickly, making it an effective tool for time-sensitive promotions.
How can text marketing contribute to brand loyalty and customer retention?
Text marketing allows brands to deliver personalized offers, updates, and rewards directly to customers’ phones, fostering a sense of exclusivity and loyalty.
What are some best practices for optimizing text marketing campaigns?
Optimize your text marketing campaigns by segmenting your audience, crafting concise and engaging messages, providing clear calls to action, and respecting opt-out requests to maintain a positive reputation.
Costantine Edward is a digital marketing expert, freelance writer, and entrepreneur who helps people attain financial freedom. I’ve been working in marketing since I was 18 years old and have managed to build a successful career doing what I love.