When, why and how to use custom market research 

Editor’s note: Parivesh Kumar is head, project management at Spade Health. This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared under the title “Why customer market research is essential for your business.” 

Research is a crucial part of creating winning strategies because it gives brands and marketers the data they need to increase their impact, boost sales and generate leads. Custom research helps brands gain a better understanding of their target markets, trends and current and potential customers as well as rival goods and services. It’s essential to consider why and how custom research can support business initiatives, whether you’re launching your brand’s marketing or aiming to become a successful marketer.

What is custom market research?

Custom market research goes beyond the bounds of a conventional published report to offer targeted market insights created specifically to meet your needs and objectives. Customized market analysis is created for your sole use and is kept private.

In-depth phone interviews and online surveys may be used as part of a custom market research study to gather more primary data and valuable insights from top industry players. In particular, hard-to-size markets or extremely niche market segments with scant published data can benefit from this targeted intelligence.

Custom research solutions are ideal for pivotal decision points when a company needs an unbiased third-party perspective to gain more granular insights, valid assumptions and data interpretation.

When are custom research solutions needed?

Custom market research services can support businesses in making decisions where there is a high-cost of making the wrong one. These services can also help businesses more successfully navigate a variety of business challenges. With the help of targeted custom research engagements, you can make sure you have the necessary market intelligence to support strategic decision-making in several situations including:

  1. Long-term strategic planning.
  2. New product development.
  3. Geographic market expansion.
  4. New vertical market expansion.
  5. Mergers and acquisitions.
  6. Competitive benchmarking.
  7. Capital expenditures.

The benefits

Through insights and data, custom research provides brands and businesses with a tailored solution to meet specific objectives so they can confidently make those difficult decisions. It stands to reason that companies who conduct custom research have a significant advantage over those who do not.

  1. It aids companies in maintaining an edge over rivals and solidifying their position as market leaders in important markets.
  2. By using a portion of your marketing budget to create marketing strategies for a higher return on investment, custom research reduces financial risks.
  3. It highlights opportunities or challenges that might have otherwise gone unnoticed by using a variety of research techniques, such as qualitative and quantitative research.
  4. By utilizing evidence and data-based strategy, it facilitates strategic planning and gives brands the assurance to pursue their corporate objectives. 
  5. By using valuable and current data to learn how to enhance everything from customer service to product offerings, it focuses on consumer needs and demands.

Why is custom research important?

  1. Custom market research narrows its focus to the specific market of a business rather than the market in general. This is crucial because what may be useful or applicable in one region of the nation, state or city may not be the same elsewhere. This distinction is made in custom market research, not secondary research.
  2. All the various departments and groups that require solutions are identified and targeted by custom market research. This is crucial because, for each business, the challenges those sales face will be distinct from those that product development, finance, operations, customer service and other departments face. These distinctions are made by custom market research, which provides various groups with the pertinent and useful information they require on their terms.
  3. Custom market research is a secure investment because it is not speculative or abstract but rather useful and data driven. On the other hand, spending a lot of money on a general market research report may not be a wise decision. Additionally, without internal expertise to interpret and utilize the data, the report will merely be another file on a shelf or in a folder.
  4. Custom market research is more affordable because its methods for collecting data and overall operations are coordinated with important objectives. For instance, a company can direct its market research investment toward resolving the problem of high customer churn.