What is Quantitative Market Research?
Quantitative
Market Research is a technique to ask questions to the target audience in an
organized manner using surveys, polls or questionnaires. Received responses can
be analyzed to make well-thought decisions for improving products and services,
that will in turn help increase respondent satisfaction levels. Well-founded
results can be achieved in case a large sample size that represents a
population is surveyed.
The
age of Information has transformed both selling as well as purchasing habits
and norms. “Information” or “data” is now more valuable than gold. Companies
rise and fall on the basis of how well they are able to collect and analyze
data and make informed decisions based on the gathered insights.
Any
evolved customer who makes a purchase online can tell how quickly businesses
have become “customer-centric”. And the first step towards becoming a
customer-centric business is through customer feedback and research.
For
instance, “Based on your overall experience with us, how likely are you to
recommend us to a friend or colleague?” – This one question, the Net Promoter Score question, changed the
game for businesses across the Globe. With just 1 question, companies are now
able to collect real data from real customers on how well their organic
word-of-mouth referrals can grow their business and how less/more they have to
spend on paid advertising and promotions or which area of their product or
service quality requires improvements.
This
is just 1 in hundreds of such Quantitative Market
Research survey questions that have fundamentally and
exponentially helped organizations, including nonprofits, charities,
educational institutions and business alike, to make decisions that are based
on real data!
Organizations
are dependent on quantitative analysis for the statistical evaluation of data
because it gives systematic, detailed information about the problem at hand or
the target audience. This market research technique revolves around surveys, questionnaires and polls and the data
collected is evaluated numerically, statistically, mathematically to form
better strategies and marketing plans.
But
before we dive into the steps that are required to carry out a successful
Quantitative Market Research study, let’s look at a few more critical reasons
why you need to do so.
Reasons to conduct Quantitative Market
Research
·
Research is the first step for a
successful marketing campaign, be it a new product launch, sales pitch
positioning or conducting a data-oriented statistical analysis.
·
By conducting an online quantitative
market research, insights about marketing activities like updating the website,
social media page management or newsletters can also be received.
·
By implementing Quantitative Market
Research, questions like “Who are currently buying my products/services?”, “Why
are the others not buying my product?”, “How to reach out to my potential
clientele?” are answered.
·
Quantitative research starts with
survey creation, designing, and distribution. After the survey is sent out to
the right people, data collection and analysis has to be done to get desired
insights.
Significance of Quantitative Market Research
As
the name implies, Quantitative market research focuses on the quantity and
structured collection of data. It began with face-to-face techniques and now
has evolved into online surveys like those
provided by QuestionPro. It is often used to capture data like
customer behavior, size of the market, identifying reasons for product
repurchase. This type of market research is usually based on a large number of
samples.
Characteristics of Quantitative Market
Research
The
basic characteristics of quantitative market research are:
·
The premise that quantitative market
research operates on is to confirm the hypothesis of the phenomena of how many.
·
The data collected is solely in the
form of numbers and statistical formula can be applied to this data to come up
quantified actionable insights.
·
Data collected and the mode of
collection is very structured. It is a mix of questionnaires, surveys etc.
·
The research study is designed in a way
that the questions are structured and the possible responses to these questions
are also structured. This is laid out well in advance before the study.
·
Since the questions are not open ended,
they point towards certain answers so the scope for uncertainty is limited.
What is the methodology for creating a
successful quantitative market research survey?
Quantitative
market research is a highly scientific method of market research. It uses
deductive reasoning to come to a conclusion and create actionable insights from
the data collected. This research method works on the principle of developing a
hypothesis, collecting data and then analyzing that data to further prove or
disprove the hypothesis. The milestone based procedure of the quantitative
design is:
·
Make an observation of something that
is unknown to you. Investigate the theory that is related to your issue or the
field that requires validation.
·
Create an in-depth hypothesis to
validate your research and findings and end objective.
·
Plan for how to prove or disprove this
hypothesis and create a structure to achieve this objective.
·
Collect and analyze your data. If your
data validates your hypothesis, prepare for final validations and to present
findings. If the data disproves your hypothesis, you can either start afresh
with a new hypothesis or drop your current research.
The
milestones mentioned above fall under 5 quantitative design types namely; survey research, descriptive research, correlational research,
causal-comparative/quasi-experimental research and experimental research.
What are the common techniques to conduct a
quantitative market research?
Quantitative
market research can be conducted by primary and secondary research types. Some
of the Some of the most common ways to conduct a quantitative market research
are:
Primary quantitative market research
techniques
Primary
techniques are the most common forms of conducting quantitative market
research. Some of the most common and widely used forms are:
·
Surveys: Traditionally,
surveys were conducted using paper-based methods and have gradually evolved
into online mediums. Closed-ended questions form a major part of these surveys
as they are more effective in collecting quantitative data. The survey makes
include answer options which they think are the most appropriate for a
particular question. Surveys are integral in collecting feedback from an audience which is larger than the
conventional size. A critical factor about surveys is that the responses
collected should be such that they can be generalized to the entire population
without significant discrepancies. Quantitative market research is
conducted under two broad buckets of the frequency they are administered at:
·
Cross-sectional research survey: Cross-sectional
market research is
a quantitative market research method that analyzes data of variables collected
at one given point of time across a sample population.
population or a pre-defined subset. This research method has people who are
similar in all demographics but the one that is under research.
·
Longitudinal research survey: Longitudinal
market research is
a quantitative market research method where research is conducted over years or
decades on a target demographic markets or certain individuals to collect
statistical data.
·
One-one-one Interviews: This
quantitative data collection method was also traditionally conducted
face-to-face but has shifted to telephonic and online platforms. Interviews
offer a marketer the opportunity to gather extensive data from the
participants. Quantitative interviews are immensely structured and play a key
role in collecting information. There are two major sections of these online
interviews:
·
·
Face-to-Face Interviews: An interviewer
can prepare a list of important questions in addition to the already asked
survey questions. This way, interviewees provide exhaustive details about the
topic under discussion. An interviewer can manage to bond with the interviewee
on a personal level which will help him/her to collect more details about the
topic due to which the responses also improve. Interviewers can also ask for an
explanation from the interviewees about unclear answers.
·
Online/Telephonic Interviews: Telephone-based
interviews are no more a novelty but these quantitative interviews have also
moved to online mediums such as Skype or Zoom. Irrespective of the distance
between the interviewer and the interviewee and their corresponding time zones,
communication becomes one-click away with online interviews. In case of
telephone interviews, the interview is merely a phone call away.
·
Computer Assisted Personal
Interview: This
is a one-on-one interview technique where the interviewer enters all the
collected data directly into a laptop or any other similar device. The
processing time is reduced and also the interviewers don’t have to carry
physical questionnaires and merely enter the answers in the laptop.
Secondary quantitative market research
techniques
Secondary
techniques to conduct quantitative market research are a means to validating a
hypothesis or drawing conclusions from empirical
data and primary data. This research method is a form of
observational market research where historical data helps validate the
statistical observations of the primary data. For example: mapping the purchase
of snowblowers to the months where sales spike with historical data of
inclement weather helps manage supply and demand as well as trained personnel
during those months.
5 steps needed for creating a successful
quantitative market research survey:
1. Specify
the Goal: Why
do you want to conduct this market research? There should be a clear answer to
this question so that the steps that follow are smoothly executed.
2. Have
a Plan Sketched Out: Every
step that needs to be achieved has to be put to paper like the tools that are
required to carry out the research, survey
templates, the target audience etc. This may vary from project to
project.
3. Collect
Data: This
is the most crucial step in this market research. Data is collected through 3
main mediums: online surveys, telephone interviews or email surveys.
4. Analysis
of Collected Data: Once
the data is gathered, it needs to be analyzed. Various methods of analysis like
SWOT Analysis, Conjoint Analysis, TURF Analysis can be carried out to get best
results.
5. Compile
Reports: A
report consisting of graphs, charts, and tables should be created so that the
person in-charge of the report can incorporate the observed changes.
Guesswork
or limited awareness of numbers can never result in the success of an
organization. Quantitative market research offers the perfect medium for
researchers to analyze customer behavior and adaptability so that the growth of
the organization isn’t hampered.
Quantitative market research questions – Use
and Types
According
to the objective of research, the survey creator can decide the type of
questions to be used. To put it briefly:
·
Quantitative market research questions
produce answers for “Who” and “What”.
·
Qualitative market
research questions
produce answers for “Why”.
Quantitative
questions are usually close-ended and
are simpler to analyze when compared to the qualitative counterparts which are open-ended and much harder to analyze. If
you’re looking to obtain statistics and quantifiable results, you can implement
quantitative market research questions.
These
questions are easy for the respondents to answer. Due to their close-ended
nature, a sizeable quantity of questions can be asked without having to worry
about whether the respondents will get irritated by them or not.
Quantitative questions can start with “how” or “what” and can be used in
questions such as “how frequently” or “how many” or “what are” or “what is the
extent”.
The
most used quantitative market research questions are:
Net promoter score: This question can be asked to
evaluate customer satisfaction and brand shareability. It’s usually a 0-10
scale which provides a very filtered yet efficient perspective about brand
recommendation. The respondents are divided on the basis of the provided input.
Likert-scale: It’s a psychometric question to
evaluate customer opinions towards a particular situation with two polarities
at each end of the scale. The Likert-scale question has a statement and 5, 7 or
9 response options for the respondents to choose from. These questions used
for customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, and academic surveys.
Semantic-scale: Semantic differential rating
scale is used to ask quantitative questions about ideologies, products or
events with grammatical opposite options at the polar positions of the scale to
measure their implicative meaning.
Multiple-choice: These fundamental components of a
survey can be vital in getting the best responses in quantitative research as
they provide the exact options that an organization would want their
respondents to choose from.
Matrix questions: These are multiple choice
questions assembled in form of a matrix. They are extremely convenient for
survey makers to create and analyze these kinds of questions and for
respondents to construe and answer.
Statistical Analysis in Quantitative market
research
Quantitative
market research uses a host of statistical analysis techniques to process the
response data and derive meaningful and clear insights. These insights gathered
from statistical analysis enables researchers to derive the final conclusion of
the quantitative research.
Here
are 5 commonly used statistical analysis techniques:
·
Conjoint Analysis:
Conjoint analysis is a method used to identify the
value of various attributes such as cost, features, benefits for the customers
that lead to the purchase of a particular product or service. With increasing
technology implementation features in devices and gadgets, this analysis method
has been widely adopted for product pricing, market placement, and product
launch.
·
TURF Analysis:
TURF (Total
Unduplicated Reach and Frequency) analysis allows an organization to gain
insights on a combination of products/services that’ll attract the highest
number of customers. This is done by producing the reach and frequency of
unduplicated data from the obtained responses.
·
GAP Analysis:
GAP analysis is used to calculate the difference between the
desired and actual performance of a particular product/service. By measuring
this, an organization can make improvements to mend the gap and make their
attributes more appealing to reduce the gap.
·
MaxDiff Analysis:
Also
known as “best-worst” scaling, MaxDiff is
choice-model used to acquire customer preferences of multiple characteristics
such as product features, brand images, and preferences, activities around the
branding etc. It does have some similarity to Conjoint analysis but is much
simpler to implement and analyze.
·
Cross Tabulation:
Cross-tabulation is a statistical analysis tool
that allows comparison of two or more categories in a brief tabular format for
convenient data analysis.
Advantages of quantitative market research:
·
Produces numerically rational
theories: The
result of the quantitative research is based on numbers because of which
results are extremely instrumental for an organization to make well-thought
decisions to market a product/service in a better manner. The numbers analyzed
in this can be then put into charts and graphs for better representation and
review.
·
Easily calculable and analyzable data: Due to the
exactness in the answers received for quantitative questions, it’s extremely
favorable for research to evaluate the data.
·
Enhanced willingness of respondents: Quantitative
research mostly comprises of close-ended questions which are quick and less
time-consuming for the respondents to answer. This is an essential reason for
high response rates for this market research.
·
Less investment to create brand
awareness: These
days, quantitative research is used for brand awareness which is generally
conducted through online mediums. Cost invested in the research is thus reduced
to create awareness about the brand.
Disadvantages of quantitative market research:
·
Statistical data isn’t always
complete: Data
could be collected from a huge number of people but there is no way to dig deep
down into they “why” of an answer. Data isn’t actionable with just numbers and
no concrete explanations to back that data.
·
Structured interviews and
questionnaires: The
biggest strength but also a weakness of quantitative market research questions
is the limited scope to digress from a structured answer. Whilst this provides
actionable numbers, the questions do not allow to validate those numbers due to
the nature of how the survey is set-up.
·
Sample size isn’t indicative of a
larger population: If
the respondents of the market research
survey have attributes that do not match those of a larger
demographic, the data collected cannot be equated to a larger sample as the
data collected isn’t necessarily a representation of the larger audience.
·
Self-report isn’t always trustworthy
data: People
when given the liberty to respond to a survey are skeptical to give out too
much information and if any information provided is incorrect or haphazard,
that discounts the complete validity of the survey.