Top Market Research Companies in Singapore

How do you know whether your killer product idea will capture the imaginations and wallets of your target consumers? You could have come across a service that isn’t offered by any other brand, but how sure could you be? Well, the only thing you and I would do is to go full throttle and make a kill out of such an opportunity.

But, before you shift into high gear, you’ll need to re-check your move. You can’t just go into the market rudderless. Ask yourself whether there’s a market for that product. If there’s one, it’s prudent to know whether you need to polish whatever strategy to capture that market before the competition.

But, like you and I (and other happy-go-lucky entrepreneurs), you need to know why market research is essential before plunging into unchartered waters.

Having said that, the best way to discover whether customers want your brand more than the rest is to dive knee-deep into the process that is market research.

What Is Market Research?

Market research is simply an organised process whose objective is to gather target market and consumer data. It’s about determining the viability of a new service or product in regards to potential customers.

It’s this research that helps businesses to find out what real customers say and feel about a specific product or service. Market research is at the core of any marketing strategy. Through a market research firm, companies can get a sneak preview of the market need, size, and the nature of competition in the given niche.

What else does market research tell you? You know the modern shopper is researching you and your competitors. It’s market research that discloses where these prospects are and how they carry out research about you and offerings that are similar to yours.

Don’t forget, marketing research tells you what’s new, what’s trending, what your prospects want in products/services like yours, not to mention what influences them to convert or make a sale. With this knowledge, do you still want to relegate marketing research to the backburner?

Types of Market Research

Market research takes form in two main forms:

Primary Research

Primary research is simply in-house. It refers to collecting data yourself. You can employ surveys, observations, interviews, or data analysis.

Previously, this was an uphill task for many firms since they didn’t know what or where to start. Today, you have the benefit of technology and data management tools. Companies can now handle research with added confidence and accuracy.

What’s more, this type of evidence offers fresh insights, and it tends to be highly targeted to your needs.

Secondary Research

Secondary research is referencing already collected, analysed and recorded data. It can be used hand in hand with primary research.

If you’re a small venture, it’s easy to access secondary data. And that’s an advantage. There are advantages of using primary and secondary data. When paired appropriately, it gives you the correct hypotheses.

From a primary and secondary perspective, you can leverage two types of research, namely:

Exploratory Research

This type of research collects open-ended responses from prospects. It helps in scoping out a problem or an opportunity. The idea here is to gather opinions regarding a subject matter such that you know how to approach it.

Specific Research

This type of research depends on what you deduce from the general market outlook. Here, you rely on particular questions to assemble possibilities that could be a new product, service, or idea. A market research firm can use a specific questionnaire to polish up on an upcoming product or ad campaign.

When a research firm employs exploratory research, they collect data using qualitative methods. If its specific research, it entails collecting data through quantitative methods.

Qualitative vs. Quantitative Research

Qualitative Research

It refers to collecting data that is not numerical. The method summarises and supposes rather than pointing out the real truth. Since its explanatory, you can form a hypothesis out of it.

Qualitative data methods include:

• Different types of interviews
• Open-ended surveys
• Focus groups

Quantitative Research

Quantitative research is the gathering of data in numerical form. It’s more direct compared to its qualitative counterpart. In fact, market researcher will start with a hypothesis and create numerical data that can be backed up by empirical evidence. Quantitative methods include polls and questionnaires.

How Market Research Works

Market research involves primary data or info that has been gathered in-house or by an agency commissioned to do so on behalf of the business. It also includes secondary information that has been collected by an external source.

Basically, the process takes form in six different phases:

1. Identifying the research purpose
2. Market data collection
3. Assessing collected data
4. Analysing the data that’s collected and assessed
5. Interpreting the analysed data
6. Circulating the final report from the market research process to decision-makers in the company.

What Is a Market Research Company?

If you’re not doing the research internally, then you can engage a market research firm to do the heavy lifting. So, what are these companies, and what do they do?

A market research company is the cavalry that sets out to gather and analyse competitor, distributors, and stakeholder data in the market. Market research companies act upon their client’s specifications. Others are in it to collect synchronised data that they later sell to companies that want to understand the dynamics of markets they want to venture into.

Either way, these companies can conduct bespoke or conventional market research to provide your venture with actionable information. This is what helps you make strategic decisions based on raw market evidence.

Are there data protection requirements involved? Not to worry. Market research firms ensure that you’re compliant with regard to such data protection laws. They ensure you’re getting objective feedback compared to the scenario where you, as the owner is drawing conclusions from your biased research.

Top Market Research Companies in Singapore

When to Use Market Research

There’ no doubt that market research is the answer to your business success. But when can you apply it? Here are some instances:

Product Development

Though testing is at the core of incredible product development, market research is equally important. Researching how a target cluster use, perceive, and love your product is key to unending success. It’s though research that you’ll know where you stand and channel your resources to targets with the most potential.

Brand Tracking Studies

You indeed hold your brand highly. You also know that other metrics aren’t as reliable as market research. As such, the market research that lets you track customer perceptions empowers you to optimise your brand strategy to position your brand with the target audience.

Advertising and Communications Testing

Advertising campaigns can hew off a considerable budget. If they’re not tested, they could fail and disconnect with your audience. If you check your messaging, you’ll understand how your prospects are likely to connect. Research will help you modify and redeploy with higher chances of advert success.

Competitor Analysis

Don’t dwell too much on product development or communication and forget your competitors. It’s crucial to know how your target audience perceives and feels about your competitors. Poring over their websites won’t yield much. Its market research that “shows” you their strengths and how you stack up against them.

Importance of Effective Market Research

Some market research campaigns don’t always return the expected result. But, when properly executed, they reward you significantly. Effective market research enables you to:

• Make informed decisions-the actionable data gathered helps you to make sound decisions based on customer and market trends.
• Get accurate information- Market research gives you correct data that helps your business prepare for risks now and in the foreseeable future.
• Determine market size- The market researcher you hire knows how to capture market sample and format that guide you in selling to make maximum profits.
• Exploit the right sales system-research helps you to leverage the right sales system that the market prefers. It means you can position your products accordingly.
• Understand customer preferences- this lets you know how prospect tastes change. You can leverage that to move with your customers and their evolving needs.
• Study customer communication methods- simply, market research serves the role of a communication guide with existing and potential prospects.

Why Do Businesses Need Market Research?

If market research is what gives you insight regarding your prospects, competitors, and the target market, don’t you think it’s critical for your business? In fact, it goes beyond viability and the logic of plunging into a new market. Here are the reasons why you need it.

Circumvent the Competition

Your new business focuses a lot on increasing its profitability. But you cannot hack it if your competitors are towering over you. Market research helps you to discover how your rivals command the market and how to position your products /services above theirs.

Know Your Customers

You think you know your customers well? Consider market research, and you might be shocked by what you’ll discover. Its research that helps you to profile your customer and understand their buying habits correctly. Also, you’ll know what makes a customer choose your product over that of a competitor.

Spot Opportunities

You know how customer needs evolve, given the disruptive marketplace-and technology. When you prioritise market research, you can identify opportunities that aren’t being met. This can create new openings that your competitors know nothing about.

Forecasting

Economic forecasts can affect your small or established business. Customers can react apprehensively and cut spending if things aren’t looking up. Market research can help you to find whether your prospects are confident or hesitant. This can significantly inform your upcoming product launch.

Diminishes the Risk of Product Failure

Even if that super-duper idea seems like your turning point, there are no guarantees that you’ll experience a profit eureka of sorts. To make informed decisions, you’ll need to leverage market research. This way, you’ll have the numbers that tell you whether your product launch will fail or sail.

Is Market Research Suitable For Your Business?

Market research services are suitable for businesses in different growth phases. But it suits you if you’re in the following categories.

• Businesses that are breaking out into a new market with a new product
• Businesses that are scaling and entering a new market with existing products
• Businesses that are about to launch a new product
• Businesses that want to enhance their marketing effectiveness based on current market data

Signs You Should Invest in Market Research

You Are Planning a Product/Service Launch

Do you have a well thought out product /service launch lined up? Then, let market research be your leading light. You can use MR as a feasibility study that gives you critical answers for a new location or product concept.

Your Adverts Are Failing

If you’ve been sinking your dollars into advertising with no results? Or, are your adverts keeping your phone lines ringing incessantly with customer queries? If not, I think it’s time you invested in market research to captivate them with creative messaging at the right time and platform.

You’re Losing Customers Fast

Your customers are suddenly buying from the new entrant in your niche. Do you know why they left? Probably your customer experience tanks or your packaging is no longer the IT thing. Here, marketing research will give you answers. You can use the voice of the customer approach to get to the root cause.

Low Employee’s Productivity and Motivation

You’ve always focused on your prospects in your MR efforts. But, have you thought about your low employee morale and what’s causing it? Here, you can employ the voice of the employee research approach to discover why your staff morale, customer care, and productivity is wanting.

Too Many Customer Complaints

Is your customer care team recording too many customer grievances? Consider market research in the form of call or website surveys. Market research will help you put out the fires in a more amicable manner.

Benefits of Hiring a Third-Party Market Research Firm

Any business is at liberty to conduct market research. It’s either in-house, or you can do with a third-party research firm. But is it worth hiring a market research firm? Here are some reasons.

Confidentiality

At times, respondents may feel that their response may affect the quality of service they will get from the company doing the research. With a research company, it’s easy to maintain confidentiality in between.

New Perspectives

As a business owner, you’re likely to get too engrossed and lose the bigger picture. Getting a market research company will renew and redefine your perspective on what needs to be done right.

Saves Time

Using a third-party market research firm is a no-brainer where time is concerned. They’ll work as an extension of your company. Not only will they come up with great ideas, but they’ll save you lots of time.

Expertise and Capacity

Your internal market research team may not be that competent. An external market research firm comes with more expertise, exposure, and unique methodologies. Sadie, you can’t contest the fact.

Accurate Interpretation

Market research can leave you with tons of data. The entire process is only as good as the interpretation you get eventually. Instead of gambling on how to explain qualitative or quantitative data, think about what a market research firm can help you to achieve.

Considerations When Choosing a Market Research Company

The best decision you’ve made as far as MR is concerned is engaging a market research company. Since you have a berth to choose from, what considerations are you making? Here are some:

Do They Offer Actionable Insights?

Market research is all about providing raw data. Great research firm offers actionable insights to help your business in making impacting decisions. In fact, they should bring value, not just numbers and graphs. Ask for case studies and references to that effect.

Do They Know Data Collection And Analysis?

You’ll definitely make great decisions out of the data they’ll collect. As such, make sure they know how to collect quality data from the right samples. Don’t forget to check their data gathering and analysis methods.

Have They Helped Companies Like Yours?

The best market research company will have in-depth experience in your vertical. They’ll have helped other businesses like yours. If they’re good, they shouldn’t have problems connecting you with satisfied clients in their portfolio

Can You Trust Them?

The best market research firm shows its trustworthiness through their passion and excitement in your project. They won’t be in it for the commission, but they’ll be interested in getting the best market data.

Are They Flexible?

Your management team has reduced the two months they had given the market research team to submit their findings. Will they back out? Will they deliver smoothly without rushing? A diligent firm will be okay with unexpected time changes. They are masters of working on the go.

Recent Relevant Research Methodology Experience

Even though a market research firm is comfortable with the market research question, check whether they’re conversant with current methodologies that take account of new technology and tools.

Do They Favour “One Size Fits All” Approach?

Your business is unique, and so is the purpose you want to address with the market research. Always check if they can adapt to fit your research needs. If they’re all about cookie-cutter solutions, look for an alternative that is ready to get involved in your research personally.