The significant strides in Artificial Intelligence (AI) are reinventing the market research industry by addressing cost and time issues. As for the process and application, AI makes market research less labourious, faster, and more accurate. Machine Learning reduces the time to complete projects from weeks and months to hours and days. Algorithms make the job less cumbersome and more cost-effective. 

What is Text Analytics, and what are its uses?

One of the newest trends and developments in market research is Text Analytics. Text analytics is a qualitative research method used to uncover the whole story behind the data so organisations can make better, more informed decisions. It refers to the automated process of extracting and translating information, insights, patterns, and trends from large volumes of unstructured text and data. This is done through text analytics software that uses Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing (NLP) algorithms to pull valuable information and meaning from unstructured text. 

This text and data consist of open-ended feedback in text form, like emails, survey responses, product reviews, call center notes, and social media posts. 

Can you imagine how tedious and time-consuming it would be to pull information and deep insights from such voluminous, unstructured text at scale? 

Text analytics helps market researchers examine large amounts of information and data in real-time to track consumers’ sentiments and detect potential brand reputation issues before they become serious. 

Text analytics also helps diagnose product issues and provide more profound insights like identifying patterns or trends. It aids in comprehending a negative spike in the customer experience, assists in collating and interpreting customer conversations from various online sources, and helps monitor an advertising campaign’s messaging and how it is being received.

Brands increasingly use text analytics to offer actionable insights that inform sound decision-making. It also enables organisations to examine vast amounts of data at scale, increase efficiencies and reduce time, labour, and costs. 

According to Mordor, “The global text analytics market was valued at USD 5.46 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach USD 14.84 billion by 2026 at a CAGR of 17.35 percent.” 

Companies use text analysis to help improve their customer, employee, product, user, and brand experience. Many cloud-based applications use text analysis for predictive studies, cybercrime, business intelligence (BI), and fraud management, to name a few. 

The Difference Between Text Mining and Text Analysis

It is essential not to confuse text mining with text analysis as they are similar in process and methodologies but have very different applications. 

Text mining uses statistical methodologies to extract quantifiable information from unstructured text, used for applications like fraud detection and screening of job applicants. 

Text analysis has a more business and experience management focus that uses similar methodologies as text mining but uses the information to uncover trends, patterns, and sentiment to sweeten customer, product, brand, or employee experience. 

So how does text analysis measure sentiment in the absence of language and tone?

Market research companies use Natural Language Processing (NLP) to analyze sentiment from the text so they can decode the emotion, feeling, or context behind blocks of plain text. NLP uses language processing algorithms to evaluate sentiment without any bias. 

Brand and Market Research applications of Text Analytics

Text analytics is used in the field of Experience Management (XM), and it is widely used in the following four main areas:

Customer Experience 

Customer experience uses technology like Machine Learning to provide intelligence around the customer or user experience across all touchpoints. This allows brands to enhance the customer experience by making informed decisions based on the findings. 

Product Experience 

Text analysis provides feedback on the features that need improvement and those that need to be added in future updates. Product usage data and warranty information enable brands to invest in their customers’ most used and valued elements and features, reducing costs and boosting profits. 

Brand Experience 

Text analytics collates data from multiple online sources to identify conversations around the brand. It is also used to analyze how effective marketing campaigns are and how the brand messaging resonates with the target audience—other data points like campaign reach, spending, and customer acquisition impact Return On Investment (ROI). It helps measure the overall brand experience.

Employee Experience

Employee wellbeing and work-life balance issues have recently come to the forefront, and text analytics helps provide real-time reports and data around topics that concern employees. Employee attrition has always been a challenge for most organisations, and text analytics combines data around engagement scores to tackle employee attrition and boost employee retention and satisfaction. 

Armed with good text analytics software and research methodology, brands can arm themselves with the ability to identify and monitor patterns and trends over time. Text analytics helps deliver insights to build a deeper understanding to win over target audiences.

The Internet changed our lives forever. And now, the Internet of Things is transforming our lives yet again.

In recent years, we have seen several significant developments in technology. While these developments were already at play, the pandemic gave a big push and further accelerated the pace of adoption.

In today’s connected consumer world, the physical world meets the digital world,  and these two worlds cooperatively interact. Big data, analytics, and mobile technologies allow objects and devices to share and collect data over an interconnected network and with little human intervention. 

The benefits of using IoT are reduced costs, augmented productivity and efficiencies, and increased convenience. Ultimately, IoT is beneficial for brands and market researchers as it provides them with a wealth of information on consumer habits that they can utilise to increase their profitability.

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Definition of the Internet of Things (IoT)

According to Oracle, “the Internet of Things (IoT) describes the network of physical objects—“things”—that are embedded with sensors, software, and other technologies to connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet.”

Simply, IoT is when the products we use every day connect to the Internet and each other. 

Internet of Things (IoT) goes beyond consumer products and permeates many other industries. 

In recent years, one of the most significant developments in the Industrial Revolution is Industry 4.0, and it all began in the manufacturing sector.

What is Industry 4.0?

Industry 4.0 focuses on interconnectivity, automation, machine learning, and real-time data in the manufacturing industry. 

It allows manufacturers to maximise production and improve distribution, transportation, and product development. 

Industry 4.0 is the convergence of state-of-the-art manufacturing processes with the Internet of Things, which results in innovative, interconnected techniques that can communicate, analyze, and employ data to improve decision-making. This ultimately leads to optimizing, connecting, and automating operations.

Industry 4.0 was mostly restricted to the manufacturing industry in its early days but has expanded to benefit other sectors, like warehousing, logistics, and distribution.

Let’s delve into the opportunities for connected tech in other industries:

Healthcare

According to 1Mordor, “the connected medical device market is expected to register a CAGR of 18.92% over the forecast period from 2022 to 2027.” The same report showed the Asia Pacific region as the fastest growing market and North America as the largest market. 

Connected tech in healthcare is known as Connected Care. It is defined as the real-time, electronic communication between a patient and a medical provider, using digital tools such as remote patient monitors, telehealth, wearable technology, secure messaging, and mobile apps, to name a few. 

It is estimated remote monitoring for healthcare could be worth USD 1.1 trillion by 2025. 

Wearable technologies hold a significant share of this market as they provide real-time data so health care providers can help patients in remote locations. They provide convenience and cost-effectiveness by reducing multiple visits to the doctor’s office. With cardiac-related devices expected to be worth USD 800 billion by 2030, there is a massive opportunity for healthcare brands in the cardiac segment for wearables.

COVID-19 has impacted and accelerated the growth of this market. The pandemic brought about new ways of interacting with doctors remotely due to the nature of the pandemic and pressure on health systems and infrastructure. 

While there are data security risks involved, wearables can detect cardiac arrhythmia conditions causing stroke and allow neurologists to diagnose seizures from remote locations; the benefits of these products far outweigh any risks. 

Agriculture

According to Statista, the global market size of smart agriculture is expected to grow to USD 34.1 billion by 2026.

Connected tech in farming utilises sensors installed in plots or livestock farms. They help collect data, such as soil moisture and plant vigor, which is used to monitor the health of the crop or herd.

With environmental factors in play, the growing demand for food, constraints on the supply side, and changing consumption patterns, agriculture faces enormous challenges. While we have seen massive improvements in equipment and technology in the past five decades, a digital transformation using connected tech will lead us closer to sustainable solutions.

However, digitization in agriculture faces obstacles. In many regions of the world, connectivity is an issue. In areas where connectivity exists, the adoption of digital tools has been relatively slow. 

Therefore, we need to develop infrastructure to enable the use of connectivity. In areas where connectivity already exists, we must take the necessary steps to promote and encourage adoption. 

In addition to offering more effective production methods, higher quality food, and more transparency for consumers, smart agriculture can create sustainable production methods that save water, which lessens the impact on the environment and reduces production costs.

Inventory & Supply Chain Management

IoT devices help companies provide enhanced inventory monitoring capabilities and location tracking, leading to increased storage and distribution efficiencies. Companies can figure out where goods are delayed during transportation. 

With IoT data analytics at their fingertips, supply chain managers can plan better routes based on potential weather hazards, accidents, and road conditions.

Finance

IoT is the coolest kid on the finance block. It provides a network of internet-connected devices that collect and transmit data.

As banking goes digital, consumers enjoy more convenience in the usual banking processes. Banks can leverage technology to know the needs of their customers in real-time. IoT financial technology software can increasingly collect more data about transactions using built-in Artificial Intelligence (A.I.), enhancing efficiencies, security, and fraud protection.

Retail

IoT technologies help brands track products throughout their supply chain by utilizing GPS and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). This allows brands to monitor and track where their products are at any given time and predict a more accurate delivery time. 

In a world of connected consumers, where they expect brands to be intuitive and relevant, IoT helps brands make deeper connections with their consumers by identifying unique behaviours and having the ability to offer what consumers want —when they want it.

How the IoT is Impacting Market Research

As discussed above, IoT is important to both consumers and businesses in almost every industry. 

So what does this goldmine of data mean for market research? 

Big Data has daily implications for consumers, businesses, and market researchers. The application of data plays a massive role in market research surveys, and so do data processing and analysis. With market research becoming more digital in data collection and analysis, traditional methods are not enough anymore. Therefore, IoT helps market researchers stay abreast of consumer habits and behaviour. 

Furthermore, IoT data is more accurate, reliable, and valuable to market researchers. 

It is estimated that, by 2030, roughly 125 billion devices will be connected to the Internet and used daily. Moreover, 5G connections enable the usage of connected devices more than ever before. 
Since there is a growing market for IoT, wearables, and smart technology, consumer feedback is a critical resource to help brands adopt the most compelling business, sales, and marketing strategies to maximise their return on investment.

Ultimately, the winning brands will not be the ones with the best, most innovative technology but the ones that have the perfect combination of innovation and ongoing customer behaviour analysis. This is where the role of market research cannot be ignored.

Four Ways IoT Impacts Market ResearchTracking consumer behaviour 

  1. Tracking consumer behaviour 
    IoT is a network of smart, connected devices that work through the Internet. The data is no longer just available on smartphones and computers but encompasses smart appliances, wearable technology, automobiles, and smart, interconnected devices. In a hyperconnected, digital-first world, the data provides a wealth of sights into consumer habits and behaviours.
  2. Analyzing consumer behaviour
    The business world is changing at warp speed, with older forms of consumer engagement becoming obsolete. Companies need to move with digitally empowered consumers and adopt digital data collection and analysis. IoT is an invaluable and more accurate tool for monitoring a product’s performance and consumer behaviour, preference, and attitude toward a product. IoT can inform brands on how and where they can improve their product and message.
  3. Predicting behaviour analysis to sell when consumers are ready
    IoT enables brands to know when consumers need something, benefiting brands and researchers. For instance, a smart car can predict when the oil change is due on a vehicle, carrying essential consumer data and information. This can be used to advertise locations that offer the service. Therefore, it boosts sales.
  4. Offering tailored experiences
    By integrating data analytics into their operations, brands can offer more tailored experiences and obtain information on consumer behaviour. Market research is beneficial here. For instance, in 2013, Disney World introduced the MagicBand. These wearable devices collect a wealth of data from hotel bookings, restaurants, and popular rides. Disney World can enable tailored offers using this data on behaviour by utilizing predictive analytics. 

Technology and consumer behaviour have drastically transformed in the last two decades. IoT provides data that can help market researchers understand consumers and their habits better than ever before, thereby enabling them to provide reports and analyses to brands that contain accurate, unbiased, action-oriented information free from human error. 

Deciding to enter a new international market is exciting for a brand. Perhaps your product or service has gained enough traction in your existing market that demand is growing organically. You have two options to create additional revenue streams, add more products, or expand into fresh markets.

Having your brand available in multiple overseas markets can also make commercial sense. Your company can benefit from having numerous currency streams and not be beholden to one economy. When the Global Financial Crisis occurred from 2007 to 2009, some economies such as Australia, India, China, and Indonesia were not adversely affected. Brands established in these markets felt fewer shocks from the recession as more robust markets bolstered weaker ones.

Most people would assume that the US dollar is the strongest currency globally. However, nine currencies (in 2022) are valued higher than the US dollar, including the Pound Sterling, the Euro, and Kuwaiti Dinar. Just like economic ups and downs, currencies also fluctuate, and by deriving income from multiple countries, your brand can withstand the ups and downs of money markets. 

Population, particularly when it pertains to your target customer, is another reason to consider entering a new international market. Your current market may have a limited number of potential customers or be oversaturated with competitors, so entering a new market makes sense. Some markets like India and China have an abundance of potential buyers for your product or service.

While all these reasons make sense, entering a new market successfully needs careful consideration and research. You should research and evaluate the eight areas before leaping into a new international market, and build a market entry strategy first.

Also read our blog post, “What are the Four Market Entry Strategies?”

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1) Behaviours of your target audience

Even if your product appeals to Gen Xers in your current market, it does not necessarily mean that it will have the same appeal in a foreign market. Even if the target audience is the same, it does not mean the target audience’s behaviours, wants, and needs will be the same. Even the slightest difference can potentially impact marketing messaging and product packaging.

2) Communication / Marketing Channels available

You may have a predictable marketing and sales model, but it may fall flat in other markets. In Japan, as an example, LinkedIn is not widely used because, culturally, Japanese people do not boast openly about their accomplishments, and the LinkedIn platform was built, in part, to promote career accomplishments. In Germany, LinkedIn is second to Xing. In many countries throughout Asia, WhatsApp and Youtube surpass Facebook and Instagram. In China, Facebook is not available, and WeChat is considered the Chinese version of Facebook.

Using existing marketing material may also be a challenge. While many brands take existing marketing campaigns and translate them into the local language, the marketing can often fall short or even come across as rude when the way locals prefer to communicate is not thoroughly researched and tested before launch.  

3) Cultural and language differences

We are all influenced by the society in which we live. Even in markets that speak the same language, like USA and Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and England and Ireland, the cultural differences can vary.

Cultural differences can influence every part of local life, behaviours, and even tastes. 

Fast-food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) got off to a rocky start entering the Chinese market after it translated “finger-lickin’ good” into Chinese characters meaning “eat your fingers off.” It has abandoned the American market model and reflects China’s strong restaurant dining culture. KFC restaurants in China have larger eating areas to accommodate large families and groups. The menus are more prominent with more extensive and localized menu items, such as rice dishes and soy milk drinks. Side dishes like coleslaw and mashed potato proved to be unpopular and replaced with a palatable local fare, such as a salad of shredded carrot, fungus, and bamboo shoots.

Understanding cultural differences, including language and taste profiles, is a critical research phase before entering a market.

4) Regulations

Every country has its regulations, and companies cannot risk non-compliance. An international market may have laws and regulations you have never heard of before and, therefore, might be difficult for you or your team to wrap your head around. 

Companies need to know the regulations and laws around shipping, borders, employment laws, taxes, and other business standards in a foreign country. Navigating a new land can be exhausting. An in-house lawyer or an outside consultancy with experience in this area can be beneficial and might be needed. 

5) Payment methods

Payment methods can be vastly different overseas. Market research helps you identify what payment methods are used in the country you are entering and how you can support those payment methods in your business to grow your brand. If you are not using the popular modes of payment that people are accustomed to, you will lose massive growth opportunities. 

In Indonesia, for example, eWallets are popular, and most people use digital payment methods, with eWallet transactions reaching 18.5 billion in 2021. 

The Government of India launched the Digital India program to transform the country into a paperless, cashless society. 

Therefore, these are important considerations when entering a foreign market. 

6) Costs and Price Parity

In international trade, parity is the exchange rate between the currencies of the countries involved, and the purpose is to make the purchasing power of both currencies as close as possible. Market currency exchange rates allow you to adjust prices across countries. 

The Big Mac Index is a measure of purchasing power parity. Invented by the Economist in 1986, its purpose is to show the concept of purchasing power parity and demonstrates how price needs to be adjusted based on currency exchange rates. Global franchises and multinational corporations widely use the Big Mac Index to understand how to compare the cost of essential goods between countries. The Starbucks Index is another index that allows companies to understand price differences using the price of a Starbucks latte. 

Additionally, the cost of overheads may be very different in other countries. The real estate and rental market and the cost of utilities are a consideration, among other factors. 

Developing a pricing strategy in an international market is a complex project requiring detailed planning. Companies have to deal with currency fluctuations, regulatory issues, and cultural nuances when pricing products and services for international markets. A thorough market research plan is paramount when expanding into an Internationa Market, and it will give a company insights into its pricing strategy. 

7) Competitor landscape

It is critical to understand and analyze the competitive landscape when expanding into any market. Market research helps companies comprehend the potential competition in new, unchartered markets. This knowledge helps them make better decisions about how, when, and where to expand. It is a vital part of their business planning strategy. For instance, if a particular part of the country is already saturated with the given product or service, they can move their focus to a different part of the market. 

Market research can be daunting in the domestic market and becomes even more difficult in international markets. Therefore, it is essential to work with a knowledgeable and experienced market research company to analyze the competition in-depth. This will inform and guide the future of the company in that market. 

8) Market volume and potential growth

A product is as good as its market demand and potential growth. Market research will help you measure the opportunity so companies can understand how many potential customers their product or service will have in any given market. 

It becomes more complex to measure the opportunity in an international market, given the differences in economic conditions, for instance, in developed versus developing countries. 

These steps and considerations help show companies how to calculate market potential and help guide the process of international expansion. However, there might be many more things to consider when entering a new country. Several factors like the company’s growth stage, offering, industry, and business model will likely have unique considerations. 

Entering an international market is not a simple process, and it is essential to do the legwork and thorough market research to inform a well-thought-out market entry framework.  

For more in-depth insights, read our blog post, “The Ultimate Guide to Market Entry.”

Kadence Indonesian office has launched an innovative online survey platform called K-OINS (Kadence Online Insight System). With an increasing number of people moving online, there has been a need for a high-quality online survey, and K-OINS is the solution.

The K-OINS Platform can be used free by registering through its website or by downloading the app on Google Play Store. Currently, K-OINS is still under development for iOS users.

K-OINS rewards users for participating in market research surveys on their platform using “Koins,” which can be transferred to the user’s bank account or any preferred e-wallet with a minimum balance of IDR 50,000 free of any administration fee. The incentive doesn’t end here. Every registered K-OINS user also gets a referral code to be shared with new users for more “Koins.”

“With the current digital technology, innovations are carried out by almost all lines of business, and market research is no exception,” Febri Nugraha, Managing Director of Kadence International, said. “While there are many online survey platforms in the market, we continue to focus on providing the best service to our clients through our in-house online survey platform.”

According to Nugraha, K-OINS will allow the Kadence Indonesia market research team to monitor the survey results, support them in providing recommendations to clients, and help them adjust survey results in real-time.

“Additionally, we also complement the K-OINS platform with efficient UI and UX, eye-catching visuals, so that all our users can enjoy K-OINS,” he added.

According to Sebastian Mulia, Quantitative Director of Kadence Indonesia, the company released the K-OINS platform to positively impact the community and help people earn additional income.

“Launched in 2022, we have gone through various processes and research since we first started developing the K-OINS platform in 2019. We have collaborated with third parties, like agencies, to help media placement and boost awareness,” he said.

As the newest entrant in the online survey platform market, K-OINS has already conducted many studies with companies in Indonesia from various industries such as FMCGs, education, finance, automotive, and healthcare.

In the future, K-OINS will continue to innovate in the digital surveys space and will not be limited to online surveys. “Currently, we are doing some development to cover the needs from two perspectives —both from our clients as the party receiving input and the community as the party providing input,” Benediktus Timothy, Senior Manager of Operations, said.

For more information about K-OINS, please check K-OINS Instagram @koins_id or visit the website at https://k-oins.com

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Data is at the heart of all research, and marketing research is no exception. It is the eyes and ears for a brand’s marketing initiatives. The data you gather — and its quality — will make a massive difference to how successful your research is, how accurate your findings are, and the impact on your business goals and strategies.

As a result, data collection is arguably the most critical market research stage. It can make or break the rest of the process, so it’s vital to do everything you can to make this stage run smoothly and successfully.

In this article, we’ll take a deep dive into why data collection matters in marketing research, the different types of data you should focus on, and all the options available to you when it comes to collecting that data. Let’s start by defining what data collection means.

What is data collection in market research?

Data collection entails gathering all the necessary raw information for your market research. Some people also extend the definition to include analysing that data to extract valuable insights for your research objectives.

It is a detailed, planned search process for all relevant data made by a researcher for a hypothesis.

The most critical purpose of data collection in market research is to ensure that reliable data is collected for statistical analysis so brands can make decisions backed by rich data. Therefore, your data must be high-quality, relevant, and plentiful enough to draw meaningful insights.

Why data collection is so important?

Data collection is a critical step in the research process, often the primary step. You can analyse and store essential information about your existing and potential customers when you collect data. This process saves your organisation money and resources, as you can make data-driven decisions. Data collection also allows you to create a library or database of customers (and their information) for marketing to them in the future or retargeting them.

Three main uses of data collection in market research:

  1. Data collection helps you make informed decisions and analyses, building complete and insightful market research reports that can drive future product launches, market-entry campaigns, marketing strategies, and more. Data collection is the foundational step for various activities that can lead to business growth.
  2. Data collection allows you to build a database of information about your market for future use. While your primary goal might be to create a research report with a specific objective, the data can still be helpful for future activities.
  3. Data collection allows you to target marketing and outreach more efficiently, thereby allowing your organisation to save money and do more with its resources.

The different types of data collection in marketing research

There are several different types of data to consider at this stage — let’s examine them more closely.

We can break down data into two main categories, which makes it easier to understand the types of data we want to focus on and helps us hone in on the research methods and channels that will be most useful.

Primary data

Primary data is collected directly by your researchers, specifically for your research purposes. This data is primarily collected from interviews, surveys, focus groups, and experiments. In other words, this data did not exist before your team collected it.

Secondary data

Secondary data refers to data that already existed before you started your research. Other researchers have already collected and compiled this data before. You can find this type of data in places like government reports, the analysis of other businesses, polls and surveys, and the work of NGOs. It’s typically cheaper and easier to obtain than your primary data, but it won’t be as relevant to your project.

Qualitative research

Qualitative research is usually the first step in data collection. It’s more textual than statistical and involves collecting non-numerical data like interview transcripts, video recordings, and survey responses.

Qualitative data is typically collected via first-hand observation through focus groups, interviews, and ethnography. It is a way of diving deep into ideas and concepts, allowing researchers to learn more about specific topics that may not be well understood.

Quantitative Research

Where qualitative research is relatively more text-based, quantitative research focuses on numbers and statistics. This data is expressed in charts, graphs, and tables and is typically used to test initial findings.

Methods used to collect quantitative data include more closed-ended survey questions, mobile surveys, and Likert scales. The main benefit of this type of data is that it allows researchers to make more broad generalisations and predictions, but it’s not well-suited for diving deep into particular questions.

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How data collection in marketing research works

There are many steps involved in the data collection process. Some of these steps begin even before you start collecting data.

Prior steps

There are several steps you should take before your data collection begins, such as:

・ Make sure you have all the necessary permission to collect your data. Today, data privacy laws are stronger than ever, so researchers need to take extra care to comply with regulations and have the full consent of their subjects and participants. It’s best to work with a legal compliance team to draft all the required documents, forms, and contracts to share with your research participants from the very beginning.

・ Make sure you have the support of any company decision-makers and stakeholders. It may be helpful at this stage to prepare a preliminary report informing any higher-ups of your plans, goals, sources, and any methods you plan to use.

・ Try to predict and pre-empt any possible challenges or problems, such as privacy regulations, collection methods, infrastructure, or budget. Anticipating any issues now will help you avoid costly problems and make the whole process run more smoothly.

・ Put together a team of skilled and qualified researchers and analysts. Data collection can be a difficult task, and you need to have the right experience and skillsets on your team.

Decide on your data collection methods.

The next stage is to decide which data collection methods you will use to collect data for your marketing research report. You will likely employ various methods here, as each has unique pros and cons. Here are the main methods you should consider:

・ Surveys

There are many ways to conduct surveys — in-person, online, post, email, mobile message, others. Surveys differ in content and structure — from simple Likert scales with just five possible numerical responses to more qualitative open-ended questions.

・ Focus groups

Focus groups allow you to bring multiple participants together to discuss the subject of your research and share their opinions. This format can be a great way to brainstorm ideas, and people can often bring good ideas out of each other. To get the best results, everyone should get a chance to speak, and no one person should dominate the group.

・ Interviews

One-to-one interviews are the best ways to dive deep into a person’s opinions about your brand or a specific product. However, they can be time-consuming and may require much planning.

・Observation and experimental research

This type of data collection involves observing individuals as they interact with specific products or services. It helps get around certain biases that people might have in interviews and surveys and cut right through to their true thoughts. However, it isn’t easy and requires an expert touch to get it right.

Identify and prepare for common challenges with data collection.

During the data collection process, you’re likely to encounter several challenges. The good news is that you can avoid these challenges and mitigate any impacts on your research report with proper preparation.

Here’s what to look out for:
・Bad methodology results in poor quality data

A lot can go wrong with your data collection methods — badly identified participants, poorly designed questions, and choosing the wrong methods are just a few examples. This can result in poor quality data, leading to erroneous conclusions and an unsuccessful research report. Take the time to work with experienced researchers and build the right data collection strategy for your needs.

・Logistical challenges

You will also come across many logistical challenges. For instance, you’ll need a big venue to hold everyone if you’re running a focus group. If you want to conduct a stream of interviews, you’ll need to hire a space for a particular time. You may need to arrange transport, refreshments, and a wide range of other logistical demands. If you fail to plan this properly in advance, your team could find itself in a highly stressful situation.

・Using the proper channels

The channels you use to connect with your audience are consequential — what works well for one demographic might completely fail for another. If you choose the wrong media (like Twitter to send surveys to an older demographic), you could have a poor response rate and lack usable data.

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How to collect data effectively

Get to know your audience.

You will need to have an intimate and deep understanding of your audience and the people you collect data from. This will ensure you target the right people, ask the appropriate questions, choose the correct methods and channels, and analyse the data in the proper contexts.

There are many ways to get to know your audience better in advance of data collection:

・ Use social media to spend time in the same spaces and groups as your audience members, chat with them, and find out who they are and what makes them tick.

・ Work with your sales and marketing teams — it’s their job to understand your audience, and they’ll have access to valuable insights.

・ Look at who is using your competitors’ brands and products.

Once you understand whom you target, it often helps create detailed user personas, outlining details about your typical audience members like their age groups, income brackets, and education levels. You can then use this information to tailor your data collection strategy to be relevant and valuable.

Prepare for the analysis of your data.

Collecting data is one thing, but you should always have an eye on the analysis of that data. This is where you extract insights and draw tangible value from the data — allowing you to make informed business decisions and create a valuable and applicable market research report.

When planning your collection methods and recording the results, always remember that someone will be analysing this data. Be organised, clear, and detailed, and work with your analysts to ensure they are aligned with your approach.

Use a wide range of methods and channels.

The best data collection relies on various tools and channels instead of focusing on just one or two. By combining a number of the approaches mentioned in this article, you will connect with a broader part of your market, gaining a better understanding of how different demographics feel and leading to a more valuable and insightful analysis.

For example, if you focus solely on digital channels like social media and online surveys, your responses may skew heavily towards younger people. Some in-person interviews, focus groups, and postal surveys help target a broader range of age groups and accurately reflect your market and their views.

Data collection is a critical part of market research. It serves many important purposes, and it is essential to get it right to create effective research reports and complete a vast range of different business objectives.

At Kadence, we help companies worldwide fine-tune their data collection, laying the foundations for informed and effective market research.

Contact us to learn more about how we can help you do the same.

Data collection comes with a host of unique challenges, and one of the most significant considerations for researchers is the topic of ethics in market research. It is essential to think about the ethical implications of your market research — are you collecting data in the right way without infringing on other people’s right to privacy, security, and the control of their data?

Before you start your data collection work, you need to ensure everyone on the team is aligned and understands their ethical responsibilities. Failing to do this could result in legal woes, a damaged company reputation, and other serious problems.

This article will show you why ethics are so important in data collection, what you need to be aware of, and how to ensure your data collection always falls on the right side of what’s considered ethical.

What are ethics in data collection?

What exactly do we mean when we talk about ethical data collection? Let’s delve into the definition to clear any misconceptions and ensure the rest of the article makes sense.

Data collection ethics is all about the right and wrong in collecting, analysing, processing, and sharing data.

This article will focus on data collection for market research purposes. The data we’re talking about here mainly refers to the personal data of our research participants.

Ethics has been an essential consideration for as long as we’ve been collecting data. By understanding it, you can ensure that the data you collect and the research you produce is ethically sound, respects the rights of your subjects, and avoids landing you in legal trouble.

Why are ethical considerations so important for data collection?

There are several key guidelines market researchers have to follow so they can adhere to ethical norms when it comes to data collection, such as:

・If you prioritise ethics, it usually results in better research.

When you care about the truth, accuracy, and minimising errors, your findings will be more reliable and lead to more valuable conclusions, benefiting your business.

・If you take ethics seriously, it shows that your brand is trustworthy and has integrity.

Conversely, suppose you’re violating ethical norms with your research; this will reflect very poorly on your reputation and (among other things) make it tough to find future participants for market research.

・You want to stay on the right side of the law.

Today there are more data privacy regulations than ever before, like Europe’s GDPR and California’s CCPA. Unethical data collection can lead to legal trouble and harsh financial penalties.

Guidelines: How to ensure your data collection is ethical.

Follow the guidelines detailed below to ensure your data collection is ethical.

Always obtain the proper consent.

When you collect data for market research, you’re using the personal data of your participants. When someone answers survey questions, takes part in an interview or focus group, or participates in an experiment, the data they share with you is protected by law in many jurisdictions.

From an ethical standpoint, an individual’s data is their personal property. As a result, you have to ensure you have the right to collect and use that data. Make sure to draft a consent agreement that informs your participants about your research and clearly outlines how you intend to use their data. This refers to asking for informed consent — in other words, your participants should know what they’re consenting to instead of being asked to give a blanket agreement.

In short, always get explicit consent from your research subjects before you collect or use any of their data, and always make sure they are given all the facts upfront about how you will use it. This is one area to work with an experienced legal team.

Always be clear about privacy and confidentiality.

You should be clear from the beginning about how private and confidential your participant’s data will be. For example, when publishing a market research report, will you use the names of your subjects or provide any information that could be linked back to their identity? If so, it’s essential to let them know before you collect any data.

You also need to consider technical capabilities in this area. Are your systems secure enough, or are they vulnerable to hacks and data breaches? You can still be legally punished if you lose sensitive user data due to a cyberattack in many cases.

Personally identifiable information (PII) covers many different data types, like a person’s full name, address, credit card information, or identification number.

Avoid bias.

As an experienced researcher will tell you — it’s all too easy to rig research in your favour. Wording specific questions in a certain way, focusing on some areas over others, guiding your subject in a particular direction with verbal nudges and body language — all these things can impact the result of your research.

This isn’t just unethical; it also leads to less accurate data. Pushing your research subjects towards specific answers might fulfill short-term goals, but in the long-term, it leads to a poorer understanding of your market and a shaky foundation for future research. Ensure all your moderators and researchers are aware of this and trained to avoid even subconsciously leading people in a specific direction.

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Nine ways to reduce bias in your market research

1. Minimise confirmation bias.

It’s common for teams to embark on a research project with a clear idea of what they want to discover. Maybe you want to know that all your participants love your planned products, your latest marketing campaign is destined for success, or a specific demographic is a big fan of your brand.

This can lead to confirmation bias, where researchers hone in on answers they like and gloss over ones that don’t support their favourite hypothesis, leading to skewed results that sound encouraging at first but ultimately don’t benefit the company. Be aware that your expected or desired outcome may not happen, and train your research teams to be level-headed and impartial.

2. Be aware of question order bias.

Question order bias is when the order of your questions can influence participants to give a specific answer or be more favourable to a particular idea. For example, if you ask the following questions:

  1. What do you like about the new iPhone?
  2. Can you give an example of a great tech company?

Here, the participant is already thinking about iPhones and Apple after the first question, and this could lead them to give a similar answer to question two, even if they might have said something else had the order of questions been different. Be aware of the order of your questions, and always try to word them as neutrally as possible.

3. Be transparent about your data collection methods.

When you publish your research, you should make your methodology available to anyone who wants to read it. Be clear about what data collection methods and sources you used, whom you spoke to (being careful to avoid sharing personally identifiable information), your goals, the sample size, how you selected participants, and more. This helps people check your findings’ accuracy and shows that you’re credible and professional.

If there are any limitations or anything you’re uncertain about, disclose this. Don’t state something as a clear fact when it isn’t. Certain parts of your findings might need future research to confirm them, and you should clearly state this.

4. Maintain integrity

It may seem obvious, but it’s paramount to collect data with honest intentions and hold yourself to these standards. If you collect data for reasons that might negatively impact others, this is unethical, even if your collection methods and other factors are legitimate.

Make sure the questions you ask are relevant to your research goals. Asking questions — particularly personal ones — about your subjects that don’t inform your research is unethical.

5. Don’t cause harm to your participants.

You should always identify and avoid anything in your research process that could cause harm to your subjects. This could be physical harm — for example, asking participants to sample food to which they may be allergic — or emotional trauma, like asking people to revisit uncomfortable memories or placing them in situations where they might not feel at ease.

Anything that could harm your participants in any way is unethical. Make sure they understand the process from the beginning, regularly check in on them, and be sure to disclose anything that could potentially cause problems.

6. Don’t waste people’s time.

Your participants are busy people. They don’t have vast amounts of time to dedicate to your research, and they’re helping you out by agreeing to take part. Be respectful of your participants’ time and don’t keep them waiting longer than necessary. Aim to keep your research process tightly organised and always inform people about delays and other time constraints as soon as possible.

7. Be aware of unexpected outcomes.

Even the most meticulously conducted research can sometimes have unexpected consequences. It can be deemed unlawful if individuals suffer harm due to your study.

As a result, you need to take extra care to anticipate and prevent any unexpected adverse outcomes from your research. You won’t know for sure until the study is published, but you can minimise the chances of unintended consequences by being cautious and diligent.

8. Correct errors.

It’s normal for research to contain one or two errors. In itself, that’s not unethical, nor does it necessarily mean your research isn’t valuable. However, it is imperative to correct the mistakes as quickly as possible and edit your research report to make this clear.

If you don’t correct errors when you become aware of them, this is unethical as you’re knowingly publishing misleading information.

9. Work with an experienced research team.

The best way to ensure your data collection is ethical is to work with a team of experts. Research professionals understand the ins and outs of data ethics, and they know what to do and what to avoid. They also have an in-depth and current understanding of the legal aspects of market research. At Kadence, we have years of experience helping companies worldwide conduct market research, and ethics is always a priority. Get in touch with us to find out more.

Every market research report begins with data collection, and this stage of the process influences how everything else goes. If you collect high-quality data from relevant sources and use the proper channels, you’ll boost your chances of creating a clear, accurate, and valuable report.

Data collection is at the heart of market research. If you do data collection wrong, the result could be an essentially useless market research report, wasted money, and poorly informed business decisions. Therefore, you need to use the right data collection tools.

The methods you use to gather your data in the early days of the market research will majorly impact the quality of the data and the effectiveness of your research report. This article will look at the best data collection tools available for market research and why they’re so helpful.

Five essential data collection tools for Market Research

1. Surveys

Surveys are one of the most versatile and established ways of collecting data. They come in all shapes and sizes but typically follow the same rough pattern — a series of questions aimed at gathering opinions and experiences around a specific thing like a product, marketing campaign, or brand.

One of the best things about surveys is the number of channels they can be shared through:

  • In-person paper surveys
  • E-mail
  • Social media
  • Your website
  • Postal
  • Mobile message
  • In-app surveys

The list is almost endless. You’ve probably encountered the series of buttons in public toilets and areas like airports asking you to rate your experience quickly — that’s a fundamental type of survey aimed more at measuring customer satisfaction than market research.

Surveys can be designed in several ways. More qualitative surveys ask open-ended questions like, “What did you like about this product?” They encourage extended, detailed answers to allow deep dives into the data.

On the quantitative side, surveys may use a Likert scale — a series of points (for example, Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neither Agree nor Disagree, Agree, Strongly Agree). These types of surveys are much more restrictive for the respondent but allow you to gather more numerical data to prove existing hypotheses and create charts and graphs.

2. Interviews

Like surveys, interviews are another way of gaining a deep and personal insight into an individual’s experiences and opinions on a topic. Interviews are incredibly qualitative and the only reliable way of getting an individual’s uninterrupted views on a topic in real-time. Interviews allow for the most profound and unfiltered responses of all the data collection methods listed here.

There are many ways to conduct an interview. Some methods are highly structured with a clear set of questions and the interviewer firmly guiding the conversation. Others can be more informal, with the interviewee free to talk about their experience at length without much input. Interviewers need to ensure they don’t nudge the respondent towards specific answers or encourage bias.

In the past, interviews could only be conducted face-to-face, introducing challenges around finding the time, space, and staff to carry them out. Today it’s possible to conduct interviews via phone call or video chat, making it much more manageable. However, these methods risk missing out on the body language cues and subtle gestures that can spark further questions.

3. Focus Groups

Focus groups bring multiple people together to discuss a particular topic (for example, a new product) and share their experiences and thoughts.

Focus groups can be helpful for several reasons — they help you gather multiple opinions at once, promote healthy discussion, and allow you to be more economical with your time and space. The best focus groups bring together people from diverse demographics and backgrounds.

It is vital to make sure one or two more assertive people don’t dominate your focus group. To prevent this, make sure to moderate the group effectively and allow everyone to have their say. At the same time, be mindful of people adapting their opinions to fit the overall group consensus.

4. Observation

Observation is a time-tested method of data collection that, when done right, allows researchers to gather large amounts of unbiased and unfiltered feedback. It works by giving the participant a series of questions or asking them to share their thoughts on something (like a product) in real-time.

During this process, the observer does not interfere with the participant. They watch closely and note the participant’s non-verbal reactions like facial expressions and body language. The idea is that participants’ verbal responses can be influenced by bias and tailored by the person. However, nonverbal behaviour is much less easy to control and may reflect a more honest reaction.

Observation can be an advantageous way of cutting to the root of what a person believes about a product. You should attain your participant’s full consent before the process begins. You should also be careful not to draw overly firm conclusions from the interpretation of their body language — which should be viewed as a guide.

5. Secondary sources

There are several options here, and depending on your market and research purposes, there may be a great deal of data already available. In addition to the primary methods discussed above, researchers can also look at data that others have already collected. Here are some examples of secondary data for market research:

  • Government reports. While these are not usually specific to any business needs, they can still be beneficial. Government surveys and reports contain data about income brackets, spending behaviour, customer attitudes, and more. Combined with other data collection activities, this can help you better understand your target market, build more accurate customer profiles, and improve your marketing, among other benefits.
  • NGO resources. Non-governmental organisations frequently research a range of subjects. Much of the data they collect is relevant to marketers for similar reasons as government reports.
  • Business reports. Other companies, industry groups, and market research organisations regularly create detailed research reports that you may be able to access and use. These often don’t come cheap, but they can provide valuable insights into your target market — essentially doing a lot of your work.
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Data collection is one of the most important tasks you’ll carry out in your market research efforts. At Kadence, we help companies worldwide with every stage of the research process, including collecting and analysing precisely the correct data. Contact us to find out how we can help you do the same.

Many reputed brands have made costly and avoidable mistakes by not including diversity and inclusion in their product testing and market research. These mistakes usually lead to a backlash from customers and the media, eventually becoming a PR nightmare.

So how can companies prevent this from happening? By ensuring their products and campaigns are diverse, brands can avoid costly mistakes in the first place —and it all starts with diversity and inclusion in market research.

This is because you typically want to hear from as wide a range of people as possible. You want to cast the net wide, gathering ideas from the social, economic, ethnic, and cultural spectrum, helping you gain a rich and complete picture of your market.

However, developing a product or service used by many isn’t always easy. It begins with inclusive research and reaching out to those typically marginalised. When brands consider diversity in gender, sexual orientation, backgrounds, religions, and disabilities, they can create products that work for everyone. This allows brands to craft compelling messages that resonate with their target markets.

Many organisations find it hard to ensure their research is diverse, focusing too much on specific demographics and groups. The result is skewed research with incomplete results, leading to inaccurate conclusions and ultimately harming your growth as a company.

It is somewhat easy to conduct a quantitative research survey asking for a sample of age groups or household income. But if the data comes back skewed heavily to a particular ethnicity, sexual orientation, or gender, it will not be a true reflection of society, which leads to flawed and inaccurate research.

Just how widespread is this lack of diversity? Is it limited to a handful of companies, or is it endemic in market research? In this article, we’ll look at the issue of diversity in market research and how companies can take steps to tackle it and promote more inclusive research methods.

Why is diversity important in market research?

Diversity and inclusion are essential in market research because they allow brands to factor in everyone’s voice and opinions instead of just a homogenous sample. This helps them drive growth and increase usage within their target markets. Furthermore, consumers are very savvy and expect diversity and inclusion in brands. They expect brands to show the diversity and live it through company policy and operations.

Here’s how diversity in market research helps brands create and drive successful brands:

  • It allows you to gather various opinions and perspectives, leading to more valuable insights about your market, company, and products.
  • It helps you connect and communicate with different groups more effectively, improving your marketing and expanding your reach.
  • More diverse research can lead to a broader range of new products and services ideas.
  • It signals that your brand is interested in hearing from a diverse range of people and does not lack cultural and diversity awareness.

Is there a lack of diversity in market research?

While the market research industry has come a long way in recent years when it comes to diversity, there is still clearly substantial work to be done.

While we have seen many strides in representing diversity in advertising, it is still questionable when it comes to authenticity. Market research companies need to look inward first to be fully diverse and inclusive.

3 Ways Market Research is Falling Behind with Diversity

1. Accurate identification.

A study for the Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing (AIMM) found that Caucasians were adequately and accurately identified 68 percent of the time in large digital datasets used for target marketing. However, that figure was only 49 percent for Hispanics, for African Americans just 28 percent, and for Asian Americans, 24 percent.

This is a failure on the part of data collection. Researchers need to be more stringent about the data collection sources, their standards for data quality, and the criteria they rely on for every demographic.

2. Market research teams are often too homogenous.

Marketing as an industry is not diverse at all. Looking at the 2020 Marketing Week’s Career and Salary Survey, we can see that 88 percent of people in the marketing industry identify as ‘Caucasian/White,’ compared to just 5 percent ‘Asian,’ 4 percent as ‘Mixed Race,’ and just 2 percent as ‘Black.’

Furthermore, a lack of diversity in senior positions is stifling business and creativity in this industry. According to the same report, of all senior roles (defined as senior managers to a partner or owner), 38.3 percent of marketers are Caucasian, and 49.5 percent are male.

This lack of diversity in market research will likely increase the dangers of underrepresenting certain cultures and ethnicities. Research participants may be less likely to share certain information with someone of a different background. Moderators, for instance, may also miss specific cultural contexts, and research questions may be inadvertently designed to confuse or exclude other ethnic groups.

Hiring more diverse teams and promoting market research as a potential career for people of all backgrounds can help companies conduct more accurate, valuable, and inclusive research that yields better insights.

3. People worry about inaccurate representation.

A U.S. 2019 report by Adobe found that 66 percent of African Americans and 53 percent of Latino and Hispanic Americans felt they were stereotyped in advertisements. In the same report, 61 percent of people said that diversity in advertising was necessary, and 38 percent said they were more likely to trust brands that do an excellent job of showing diversity in their ads.

Some companies fail to give customers what they want —in this case, accurate, authentic representation in advertising, which is ultimately a failure of market research. Companies need to spend more time researching the different demographics that make up their audience to create advertising that talks to everyone and addresses everyone’s problems, not just a select few groups.

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5 Ways Companies can Help Promote Diversity in Market Research:

While there is still more work to be done to promote diversity in market research, the good news is that companies can improve things.

1. Prioritise diversity.

A commitment to diversity and inclusivity should be a central goal for your research team. Make it clear to team members that this is something to focus on, and help people understand how to achieve more diversity and the mistakes they should be avoiding. Educate and hold regular training to cover all the critical information.

2. Work with more diverse teams.

When researching a diverse market, try to use moderators who belong to the same demographics as your participants. This can help avoid cultural misunderstandings, promote better communication, interpret responses more successfully, and make research subjects feel comfortable.

3. Leave assumptions at the door.

Do everything you can to avoid assumptions, biases, and stereotypes creeping into your research. Have multiple people from different groups look over survey questions to ensure they aren’t explicitly targeted at specific demographics or exclude others.

4. Be aware of cultural differences.

Before you begin your research, take some time to educate yourself on the different demographics you’ll have in your study. This way, you’ll be able to conduct more inclusive, helpful research that yields genuinely useful responses from a wide range of groups.

5. Make things accessible.

Work hard to ensure your locations, materials, and schedules are accessible to many people. Be aware that not everyone has a similar schedule or situation. For example, if your research takes place in an area not accessible by public transport, you’re limiting your responses to people who can afford a car and potentially excluding entire socioeconomic groups.

Read this article to dive into how companies can be more inclusive in their market research.

We have to represent the world we live in, and an increasing number of brands are getting it. 34 percent of U.K marketers say they’ve used racially diverse models. (Shutterstock)
Market research is becoming much more diverse, inclusive, and cognisant of different demographics. However, brands can always do more, and those who prioritise diversity will gain a more comprehensive understanding of their market, access more useful data insights, and connect effectively with more customers.

Working with a professional research agency is a great way to ensure your market research is as inclusive, effective, and complete as possible. At Kadence, we work with companies worldwide, helping them get the most out of their study. Contact us to learn more.

Your business likely serves customers across various demographics, income levels, and ethnic groups, and therefore, your research should reflect that. So, how do you ensure your market research is diverse and inclusive enough? 

Many companies fail to achieve diversity in market research. They rely on an overly homogenous group of research participants, drawn from the same places, with roughly similar life experiences, preferences, and biases. The result is preliminary research, with relevant conclusions for only one part of your market. It fails to represent everyone as a whole. 

When companies successfully bring in a diverse range of research subjects, they often fail to make the most of it. They inadvertently create a research environment that benefits particular groups over others, leading to skewed results and frustrated participants.

Therefore, brands should do everything they can to avoid these costly mistakes. They need to ensure their market research targets a wide range of people from diverse backgrounds and is modelled in a way that caters to everyone, not just a select few. This article will look closely at diversity and inclusion in market research, why it’s essential, and how to promote more of it in your organisation.

What is the difference between diversity and inclusion in market research?

Diversity focuses on demographics like age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, and sexual orientation, to name a few, while inclusion allows diversity to thrive. While the two terms are often used interchangeably, organisations need to understand the difference. 

As diversity and inclusion expert Verna Myers puts it, “Diversity is being invited to a party; inclusion is being asked to dance.”

Diversity brings people from diverse backgrounds and abilities together, and inclusion ensures you value and include everyone’s contributions in your market research. 

Why is it important to have diversity and inclusion in market research?

Brands conduct market research to determine the viability of their products and services, discover their target audience, and uncover what their customers want so they can make better decisions. When you have diversity and inclusion in your market research, everyone’s voice is heard. It allows brands to effectively communicate with their target audience —no matter who they are and where they live. 

It is essential to have diversity and inclusion in your market research efforts more than ever before. Consumers expect to see diversity and inclusion from brands in an authentic way. This is even more true of younger consumers. According to a Deloitte survey of 11,500 global consumers, “the youngest respondents (from 18 to 25 years old) took greater notice of inclusive advertising when making purchase decisions.”

As our world becomes flatter and more diverse, brands must reflect the diversity authentically in their messaging if they expect to connect with a broader audience.  

1. The best research brings diverse perspectives together.

Diversity allows you to notice things, glean insights you might have missed with a less inclusive approach, and access richer and more valuable data. It gives you a complete and accurate understanding of your target market, helping you see the whole picture instead of a narrow and restricted view. A more comprehensive range of diverse perspectives also leads to improved research outcomes.

2. Most research is too narrow.

Around the world, 80 percent of research participants fall into the same rough category. We can define this with the acronym ‘WEIRD’ — white, educated people from industrialised, affluent, democratic societies. You can probably predict the issue with this — despite making up four-fifths of all research subjects, these people are a minority in the world — less than 15 percent.

Focusing on expanding your research to include a broader range of people will improve your results while giving you an edge over competitors who focus primarily on the same groups.

3. Diversity makes your research more credible.

People can see the methodology you used during your research, and they’re likely to question the reliability of a study that focuses too heavily on certain groups. On the other hand, if you can show that your research included a diverse range of people, your conclusions will be more accurate and trustworthy.

4. Diverse research improves communication and avoids blind spots.

Inclusive research listens to everyone and allows you to tailor your products, marketing, and business strategies to improve things for everyone, not just a select few. If you fail to take all voices into account in your research, you risk creating friction and being perceived as ignoring specific segments of your market.

5. Your customers want to see more diversity.

If your research is inclusive, this will reflect positively on your brand — everything from your marketing messaging to the products you sell. In a UK survey, 51 percent of BAME people said brands do not represent their cultures well in their marketing, and 64 percent said they would feel more favourably about a brand that makes an effort to include ethnic cultures.

In other words, taking steps to include a diversity of demographics in your research will pave the way to building a brand that makes more diverse people feel included.

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How to be inclusive and promote diversity in your market research

Inclusion requires the organisation to understand, appreciate, and embrace diversity fully. It is not just about adopting diversity but also committing to it wholeheartedly and without bias. We live in a hyper-connected world with savvy consumers who will quickly call out a brand if its business values go against its brand messaging or promise. Therefore, when conducting market research, brands need to be mindful of how they will approach the issue of diversity and inclusion at every step of the process. 

Here are nine best practises to promote diversity and inclusion in your market search:

1. Build a diverse outreach network.

How do you currently get in touch with potential research participants? Many companies fall short because they rely on the same methods — the same social media pages, established networks of people, local universities, and other such channels.

The result is often a somewhat restrictive pool of people from relatively similar backgrounds and demographics. It would help if you had a more diverse strategy for finding participants for more diverse research.

It would be best to expand your network by recruiting participants from different neighbourhoods, schools, and online spaces. 

2. Make sure your pool of participants reflects your audience.

Even when businesses serve a diverse pool of individuals and are aware of this, they often still erroneously focus their research on just one or two groups. Brands need to know their audience and who is in it — and based on this information, build several buyer personas to cover all the demographics in their market.

When you have a good idea of whom you’re targeting, you’ll be able to construct a much more inclusive research strategy tailored to multiple groups and gather a much richer range of information and insights.

3. Make things as easy as possible for everyone.

It’s easy to inadvertently design a research process that prioritises certain groups over others. Maybe your focus groups take place in an area only reachable by car. Perhaps you conduct questionnaires over Zoom, excluding people with poor internet access. Or perhaps you host interviews in the evening, making it impossible for people who work late shifts.

All these things can hinder the effectiveness of your research by cutting out certain groups and leading to skewed demographics that don’t accurately represent your market. Here’s what you should do instead:

  • Take steps to accommodate different schedules by conducting research activities at different times and in other areas.
  • Help your research participants attend activities. Offer to provide transport, access to any necessary technology, and anything else (within reason) that can make things easier for them.
  • Ensure your research facilities are accessible for disabled people.
  • Compensate your participants. For some people, travelling to a research event can be expensive, and they may have competing obligations. Offer to compensate them for their time, and they will be much more likely to show up.

4. Establish trust when working with vulnerable populations.

Depending on the type of research you’re carrying out, you may need to spend time working with people from vulnerable groups. This could include those with severe mental health issues, victims of serious crimes or abuse, prisoners, or older people.

Getting feedback from these groups can be extremely valuable and provide insights into how the people within them view your brand. It can allow you to develop new products and services that cater to vulnerable groups and create a more accessible and more enjoyable experience for them.

However, this kind of research can present challenges for researchers. For example, people from vulnerable groups may not feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and feelings in a research setting — especially when the questions touch on sensitive topics. Extra care should be taken to ensure your research methods do not cause any distress or discomfort to your participants. Here are some things to consider:

  • Ensure they give consent and be very clear about how you intend to use their data. Aim to obtain explicit, active permission, and give your participants as long as they need to understand this. Don’t rush your participants, and don’t proceed until you’re not sure they know.
  • Establish what to avoid ahead of time and create an environment that will be comfortable, safe, and welcoming for your participants.
  • Be careful not to steer your participants in one direction or another — try to make sure their responses are their own opinions.
  • Make an effort to predict and avoid any potential negative consequences of the research for your participants.

5. Make things as understandable as possible.

Your surveys, interviews, introductions, guidance, and any other communication should be easy to understand for people from every background. The most obvious example here is differences in language. If a large part of your market speaks a language other than English, you’ll need translators to ensure they (and you) understand everything. Here are some examples:

  • If you are interviewing people who speak English as a second language, make sure your materials are simple and easy to understand to minimise confusion and frustration for your subjects.
  • Make sure any examples and cultural references are relevant to the people you’re studying. Even when you share a common language with your participants, misunderstandings can still happen. For example, if your screener uses references specific to a certain demographic, people outside that group may struggle to relate and understand.
  • Make sure any visual materials are easy to see and understand for people who may be visually impaired. The same applies to audio materials.

6. Be aware of how cultural differences impact research.

Different cultural groups respond differently to research. For example, in Japan, focus group participants are typically less willing to go against the group’s consensus, making this research method tricky when weighing individual opinions.

Cultural differences can impact almost every element of your research process. For instance, a time one culture might consider ideal to attend a research event could be highly inconvenient for another.

Take some time to make yourself aware of these cultural differences and how they relate to your research. That way, you can design research methods that are more appealing and welcoming to different cultures, which yields more accurate and valuable results.

7. Work with a diverse range of moderators.

People from minority groups will often feel more comfortable sharing their thoughts and opinions with someone from similar backgrounds. On top of this, moderators from a diverse range of backgrounds may find it easier to connect with these participants and get more helpful responses.

Working with a more diverse team of researchers helps you draw on different experiences to build a more inclusive research process. When groups are too homogenous, it’s easy to fall into assumptions and miss out on certain blind spots, which results in a process that can exclude specific demographics and lead to incomplete results.

8. Don’t make assumptions.

It’s common for researchers to make unconscious assumptions when asking questions and creating hypothetical scenarios in research. For example, a survey question might assume that the participant is from a typical nuclear family, alienating people who don’t fall into that lifestyle category. Take some time to consider if your questions are relatable to a wide range of people and not just your location’s dominant culture or lifestyle.

9. Work with an experienced market research agency.

The best way to ensure diverse, inclusive research and avoid any mistakes is to work with a team of experts who have done it all before. An experienced research agency can help you take all the necessary steps to avoid excluding certain groups, ensure your research process is as diverse as possible, and help you notice any areas you may have overlooked.

At Kadence, we help companies worldwide carry out effective research that connects with a diverse range of participants. Get in touch with us to find out how we can help you do the same.