SpinSix Strategic - Marketing Design

The purpose of any marketing research project is to help managers make better decisions. By conducting well-structured primary research, sophisticated marketers are able to spend a relatively small amount of money to make sure that they get the best return possible on the large parts of their marketing budgets.

Market research is either quantitative, qualitative, or a combination of the two. Qualitative marketing research is best suited to discovering the range of attitudes that customers may have about the topic being studied. Once key issues have been identified, quantitative research is better suited for nailing down hard numbers with the kind of statistical certainty that permits confident decision-making. Because each type provides different insights into customer behavior, research results are often more useful when the two methods are combined.

Quantitative research is to collect data in the form of numbers and statistics. The goal is to classify, count and construct statistical models in an attempt to convey what is observed. For example, an e-commerce site might ask its customers complete an online survey in which they rate various aspects of their shopping experience along some gradient (such as excellent, good, fair, poor or very poor), which can then be converted into numbers.

At SpinSix, the most common quantitative technique we use are A/B (and multi-variate testing) and customer surveys, which involve collecting data from a large enough sample of individuals to ensure that statistically significant results are obtainable. Our quantitative surveys are typically conducted via face-to-face interviews, email, and Web-based questionnaires. By combining open-ended questions in surveys and interviews, it is possible to combine qualitative and quantitative research in the same instrument.

Learn more about our Customer Survey services

Qualitative research provides an understanding of how or why things are as they are. Among the most popular methods for performing qualitative market research are interviews, focus groups, and usability tests. Tools such as these are a powerful way to evaluate the market potential for new products, and services, or to test new ideas.

Learn more about our Focus Group and Usability Testing services

See Also:

A/B Testing, Analytics, Competitive Research, Data Mining, ROI Marketing, Website Analytics, Website Usability Testing