Choosing the right customer research methods

Accurate, well-planned customer research helps you make smart decisions about how to market and position your business. Choosing the right method of customer research will help you answer important questions about your customers.

Identify your research goals

To choose the right research methods, you need to clearly identify your research goals. Here is an example of some research goals you might set for your business:

We will:

• find out our customers' needs
• find out our customers' preferences
• work out how to make our customers aware of our products and services
• work out what motivates our customers to buy from us
• work out how to improve or change our products or services to meet our customers' needs.

Find the research methods that meet your needs

After you identify what you need to know, then ask yourself which research methods will give you that information. This table shows you how to list the questions you need answered, and identifies the research methods you can use to answer them. Organise your questions under the 7 Ps of marketing that influence your business - product, price, promotion, place, people, process and physical evidence.

Also consider...

• Find out how to develop new products for your customers.
• Learn about collecting and storing customer information.
• Read about other marketing tactics including process and physical evidence.
• Explore your options for training staff.
• Find out new ways to attract new customers to your business.