After a whirlwind last couple of years, we’re set to see more change and uncertainty throughout 2022 — but now, with the availability of market research tools that allow brands to conduct research more quickly and efficiently, businesses can arm themselves with insights to better navigate the challenges we are sure to face.
So if you need to keep up with your consumers, stay ahead of your competitors and identify new opportunities for growth then read on our best tips for market research in 2022.
1. Implement an always-on approach
2021 taught us that nothing is stagnant. The pandemic has accelerated the need to understand your audiences and track their behaviour more regularly, because change is happening fast.
Expanding your insights capabilities is more important than ever, as we prepare to uncover insights that are different to what we have seen in the past. If your brand has not conducted market research since pre-pandemic times, it is now more important than ever to get started.
Going forward, the best approach for market research in 2022 is an always-on approach. Rather than investing in research for once-yearly planning, consider utilising a platform that enables quick-speed research, enabling you to get proven answers to real-time questions when you need them.
2. Context is king; understanding the new normal
In 2022, it will be crucial to monitor your market and context regularly to stay abreast of rapidly changing consumer behaviour, as well as to understand the long-lasting changes to the market that have taken place in past years.
COVID has created significant adjustments to values and attitudes, such as ‘revenge spending’ wherein consumers are using pandemic-related savings to splurge on holidays, cars, and renovations, as reported by ABC. Many luxury brands are seeing higher sales than in pre-COVID times. Shifts to shopping behaviour, including a rise in preference for online shopping, have emerged strongly as consumers call for contactless options.
This requires brands to keep an eye on the market and consumer behaviour through category and consumer deep-dives, plus tracking brand perception through regular brand tracking. Glow’s brand tracking investigates all brand health signs, including reputation, awareness, equity, position and delivery, for reliable insights into the ROI of marketing efforts.
In 2022, a higher volume of research is required than ever before — for example, as the world faces supply chain challenges, market research can ensure a brand remains successful.
The market is moving, and getting regular feedback from your customers and prospects is the only way to stay one step ahead.
3. Test before you invest
With access to DIY+ platforms like Glow, quality market research can be undertaken more affordably and quickly. And that means it is easier to test before you invest.
There’s no longer any excuse for a lack of robust pre-launch evaluation. For a fraction of the cost of failing, market research can provide valuable insights before launch. This includes market sizing, to determine whether the opportunity is worth the effort. Use concept testing to uncover product-market fit and ensure new product development works. Discover which customer segments like your product or service the most, then refine your communications to best reach this market.
Glow’s proven research kits and commitment to quality data enable brands to validate or hone their strategy, ensuring success before you hit the market.
4. Iterate everything
Continuous testing drives continuous improvement. When it comes to market research in 2022, it’s essential to iterate everything.
Get feedback continuously through quick employee, customer or prospect surveys within hours or days not weeks. Make sure you capture it through a platform that enables easy access, interrogation and data sharing so that your data is a stimulus for collaboration.
Improve your products, manage your retail relationships, test your communications, so you can ensure your stakeholders are happy throughout times of rapid change.
By implementing a quick-dip approach to market research ensures you are driving growth, by design.
5. Purpose matters
We know that ‘purpose’ without a product that delivers is a pointless endeavour — but for an increasingly large segment of the population, the opposite is also becoming true. For many, what you do for the planet and people, beyond just profit, is more important than ever. 64% of consumers say that a brand’s social and environmental behaviour influences their purchase decisions, and they are willing to pay for brands that do better.
In fact, according to Glow research, 19% of consumers report discontinuing their use of a food or grocery brand in the last 12 months due to its social and environmental behaviour. 43% say they’ve started using a new food and grocery brand in the last 12 months because of its social and environmental behaviour.
If your company already has an ESG or CSR strategy, you need to know whether consumers think you are delivering on it, before they consider purchasing a product that better aligns with their values. You can find out more about how brands can measure their ESG performance here.
This ‘purpose matters’ effect is extending beyond purchase behaviour and into investing behaviour. We are now seeing changes to longer-term investment behaviour as everyday investors start to put ethics where their investments are. Learn more here.
6. Own your insights
As consumer behaviour and markets change rapidly, speed in market research has become increasingly important. One vital way to increase your speed to insights is to own your insights. The ability to access your own data IP, when you need it, has never been more relevant.
The speed of change we’re seeing today is challenging the traditional agency-based approach to market research, wherein speed and control reside out-of-house. That’s why many brands, including increasing their use of DIY+ research platforms like Glow to control and deploy more market research in-house.
To learn more about the case for increased data control, read here.
7. If you don’t know it, Glow it
When you have critical business decisions that require insights from your customer, prospects or employees, there’s no longer any reason not to ask them.
There are a number of disruptive research-tech businesses who are making quality research more accessible and affordable. Some, like Glow, operate on a pay-for-what-you-use model, allowing brands to assess research without needing to make a long-term commitment.
It’s easy to jump into the Glow platform and deploy a quick-turnaround study, gaining scaled feedback you can trust within days, that you can take into boardroom decision making.
We’ve had enough uncertainty throughout 2021. Make it easier on yourself in 2022 by removing the business guesswork, while using Glow to help your business grow faster.
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