With the proliferation of market research software providers, you can now leverage multiple service offerings to cover all methodologies and stages of your study. However, the question still remains:

How do you know if a platform can satisfy your research needs?

To answer this, thoroughly understanding your objectives and aligning them with specific solutions is essential. In this blog, we’ll explore six factors to consider when searching for your ideal marketing research tools.

Research Type

Which methods can the platform accommodate?

The first step to choosing the most appropriate platform lies in the type of market research you’ll perform. Think about the methods and processes required to gather the insights needed.

Afterward, you can determine a platform’s efficacy by reviewing its research offerings, case studies, and testimonials. These factors can attest to its capabilities in handling your project.

Does the platform cater to your industry?

If you want to use solutions designed for marketing research, searching for a digital platform specializing in the industry is your best bet. These services can deliver marketing research tools to simplify each phase in your research process.

With their expertise in the latest industry practices and technologies, they can advise you on the most efficient and cost-effective way to achieve your project goals.

Are the solutions customizable?

A “one size fits all” approach does not apply to market research. Depending on your project’s complexity, you may need a customized research strategy.

Providers can work with you to design a strategy that only includes the services you need. Overall, this can lower costs and increase the efficiency of your market research efforts.

Service Capabilities

Which research phases will the tools be used in?

When planning your research design, determine which phases will require specific marketing research tools. For instance, you may prefer to source respondents independently and use a separate tool to conduct your focus groups. This often depends on your budget, timeframes, and chosen platform’s capability.

Can the tools complete specific research phases on their own?

Market research service providers may vary depending on their ability to perform and complete tasks. This includes designing the research program, conducting surveys and interviews, analyzing data, and interpreting results.

Some online research platforms can conduct the entire research process from start to finish, while others may be limited to certain parts of the research process.

Technical Support

Does the platform offer training or onboarding?

Using new and unfamiliar software on your own is like feeling around for a light switch in a pitch-black room. To help you feel more comfortable with using an online research platform, a training and onboarding process is essential.

• Training: Teaching a user the different features, capabilities, and uses of the platform
• Onboarding: How the technology can be applied in various research phases or use cases

Once you have the skills and knowledge to use the software effectively, you can maximize its efficiency and value.

Is there a technician readily available to assist you?

When using specific marketing research tools, you, your respondents, or your clients may occasionally run into problems such as connectivity issues, poor audio, or glitches. For this reason, having a dedicated technician on standby is highly beneficial.

Technical assistance quickly and effectively resolves any issues you may encounter. This helps increase client satisfaction, reduce downtime, and improve the overall user experience.

Budget Allocation

How many people will access the platform?

The more people using a single platform, the higher the cost. Typical market research service providers offer subscriptions based on the number of users. Therefore, selecting a platform that fits your budget and can accommodate your designated number of users is key.

How many projects do you plan to execute?

If you have several projects that need to be completed, it is important to consider which platform will provide you with the most value. By choosing a platform that allows you to conduct multiple synchronous or asynchronous studies for a low cost, you can complete all of your projects without exceeding your research budget.

Task Prioritization

Which factors are the most important for you?

Identifying your research priorities will help you narrow your platform choices to the most suitable solutions. For example, if you’re primarily concerned about gathering authentic and articulate qualitative research participants, you may prefer an option that offers respondent screening. Moreover, if you want to gather shopper insights, your priority may be mobile real-time data gathering.

Here are some points that you should consider to identify which research tasks to prioritize:

• What tasks are the most time-consuming?
• Which tasks can you eliminate in your research design?
• What key insights are needed to address the research objectives?

Workflow Compatibility

Can you transfer or integrate these tools into your market research?

When transferring or integrating new marketing research tools into your workflow, it’s important to consider how these will fit and interact with your existing systems before you commit to them. You can also assess if there is a more effective approach to combining these tools to streamline your workflow and improve the quality of your research.

See What Civicom® Marketing Research Services Can Do For You

Civicom® Marketing Research Services is a global leader in providing restech solutions for your project success. Our services include online IDI and focus group facilitation, mobile ethnography, online communities, respondent recruitment, plus other tools that cater to your research needs. Contact us today to see how we can help you.