Market Research Surveys: The Quick Start Guide

28th May

Whether you are a small business or a Fortune 500 company, to understand your audience better you need to conduct market research surveys. These surveys help businesses to gauge and  understand the preferences, opinions, feedback and behaviour etc of their target market and to gain valuable insights into products or services. 

In this quick start guide, we will learn everything from setting up to executing these surveys focusing on the mobile survey app. 

Why Are Market Research Surveys Important? 

Market research surveys help businesses to get connected with their target audience directly. Thus, helping them achieve important insights in setting a perfect strategy. Surveys allow businesses to run marketing campaigns with ease. These surveys are versatile and can be performed for various types of businesses including small-scale businesses as well as new startups.

If you are launching a new service or product  using a mobile survey app is perfect for capturing opinions, ideas and statistics.

Types of Surveys

Before we proceed to the guide, it’s important to know about the types of surveys a business can conduct. 

Quantitative Surveys

Quantitative surveys are performed to gather the data in a numerical form. For example, a researcher asks a sample of people the same set of questions, typically to measure, calculate and make comparisons (‘How often do you…?’ or ‘between the age groups of 21 - 30’?) etc.  These are properly structured surveys with closed-ended questions. These surveys are used to obtain ideal statistics that can be easily analysed. It contains different aspects such as demographics and market sizes.  

Qualitative Surveys

Unlike quantitative surveys, qualitative surveys are not used to collect information in numerical form. These surveys collect non-quantifiable data including customers' feelings and preferences. An example question might ask a customer about a shop return and refunds experience. Ratings scales might be used to gauge feelings etc. Qualitative surveys are beneficial in gaining insights into customer’s beliefs, attitudes, and motivations. Businesses can explore new areas when data acquired from quantitative surveys will not be enough. 

Mixed Method Surveys

You can combine both quantitative and qualitative surveys where mixed method surveys are performed. Researchers will get a more complete range of data when both methods are integrated into the survey. 

Target Market Research

To understand and identify the needs of the customers of a specific segment “target market research” is performed. These types of surveys are beneficial for companies that want to develop strategies according to their target audience's requirements and preferences. Surveys like this might be targeted according to gender, age, qualifications or to a specific geographic location.  

Creating a Market Research Survey

Planning Your Survey

A thorough plan must be  made before starting a survey. Know what your objectives are and why you need them. Proper planning will guide you  throughout the whole survey process. 

Designing Questions

Designing the right questions is very important to know the difference between valuable and general information. Always stay focused while creating questions that will provide valuable insights and reveal honest customer responses.

The NestForms mobile survey app has a whole suite of app components that can assist with these types of surveys. You can design questions based around Single answer (radio buttons), Multiple answers (choose more than one option) or provide Dropdown lists. The researcher, or interviewees can provide Audio commentary. Date and time and GPS allow an administrator to pinpoint when and where the research took place, or is taking place in real-time.

There are many other question types suitable for market research surveys. Skip logic ensures that the flow of the survey is presented in a logical manner for both the responder and interviewee.

Choosing the Survey Medium

These days various digital platforms such as mobile survey apps are becoming the best survey medium. These apps offer a wide range of opportunities and techniques to get more detailed information. Other than that, email and other traditional surveys can also be an impactful survey medium but are more limited in scope. 

Using Mobile Survey Apps

Benefits of Mobile Apps

Mobile survey apps are the most convenient and flexible way to perform market research surveys. They provide an efficient method for  both the  responders and  interviewees. These types of surveys perform much better than other  traditional methods such as e-mail  or telephone surveys. You have the opportunity to reach a  wider audience. 

Why the NestForms Mobile Survey App? 

Mobile apps such as NestForms provide  an effective strategy   for  carrying out specific market research surveys.  The NestForms mobile survey app is a web and app-based form builder that allows you to track, create, and manage mobile forms. You can create surveys easily and quickly according to your   data requirements . You can share forms instantly to colleagues already on the ground and view the data flow in real time.  

Conducting the Survey

Creating and sharing your survey

The first step is to create an efficient form that will capture the appropriate data from your target audience. The next stage is to share your form with colleagues carrying out the survey on the ground. Form creation and sharing is straightforward when using the NestForms mobile survey app.   

Collecting Data

After the survey is  shared with your responders, the next step is to collect all the data securely with your preferred survey method. You can do this by using the NestForms mobile survey app  for hassle-free data collection. Responders are required to download the app onto their smart device.

Once respondents are online (mobile internet, wi-fi in their location), any collected data is transferred back from the responders device to the administrator or owner of the NestForms website account. Your survey responses are instantly available in your account when the respondent has synced their device.

Survey results can also be stored on the device in case of an offline scenario and synchronised with your account once a web connection is restored.

Analysing Results

Analysing the results is crucial to converting valuable data into actionable insights. You can make decisions related to your business by analysis based on data collected. You will be able to see how your business is performing in relation to any objectives you have set.

You will also be able to examine trends. Some of your best decisions will be made based on feedback either from your clients or associated data collected in your day to day operations. NestForms displays simple to understand pie charts and graphs where you can see statistics at a glance.

Wrapping Up

Performing a market research survey is a non-expensive and very important process to gather valuable data and study your customer  base. These surveys can be easily performed using mobile survey apps such as NestForms.

These apps provide an efficient and effective way to perform market research surveys. Market research surveys are an essential strategy  to gauge customer expectations, preferences and opinions. 

Learn more about how our mobile survey app works and get started with just a few clicks. You can view an example template form we have created for Market Research Surveys. You can use this template or modify it for your own survey.

Try out NestForms by signing up for the free two week trial. You can view and test all of the features and modules available to Premium plan users during the free 2 week trial. That means everything!

Create your first form using our easy drag-and-drop form builder and off you go.

We hope to hear from you soon, all the best from the NestForms team!