What If We Spend All This Time and Money on Market Research and Don’t Learn Anything New?

Video Transcript:

Q: As marketing research experts at The DRG, one of the most common questions we’re asked is…What if we spend all this time and money on market research and don’t learn anything new?

A: This is a great question, and not necessarily an uncommon one. 

I’ve seen a number of research programs provide insights that reflected our clients’ predictions and others with results that came as a total surprise to them. In both cases, the research informed business decisions and even saved the companies from moving forward with initiatives that could have proved costly to their business.

For example, we had a banking client who was developing an app they were sure would be a huge hit. Unfortunately, we found the app wasn’t resonating with potential customers, even at a conceptual level. It was hard feedback for them to hear, but it saved them from investing further in a service that ultimately wouldn’t have succeeded.

Now, I will say that in instances where the results did reflect our client’s hypotheses, the research was still valuable and helped reduce risk.

For instance, we had a client looking to break into a new market they were confident would be a good fit. They also wanted to confirm it was the right time and that there was a strong appetite for what they had to offer. Our research helped them determine that the market and timing were viable, which gave them the go ahead to move forward with their growth plans. We then helped test messaging and branding concepts on the new market to see which would resonate best.

Of course, research doesn’t always uncover a major blunder or lead to a major success – there’s a lot of nuance in between. But it’s rarely the case that our clients can’t leverage the results of their investment in multiple ways. The job of a savvy marketing research consultant is to highlight the nuance and tell the story the research reveals, so stakeholders can make impartial and informed decisions.