Why Engage A Market Research Firm?

By Author: Priya Sahani
Total Articles: 13
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The benefits of market research need not be reiterated. We are convinced about the need for conducting market research and for sure there are no second thoughts about it. However, it is the decision to conduct market research in-house or through market research firms; more so by industry research companies, that needs to be deliberated here.
Let us examine a few of the advantages of engaging market research firms to conduct research.
Discretion- the information shared by an existing customer, as a response to a survey directly conducted by the company that is providing services or selling goods is guarded. More often, the response may not be candid. This may be so because of the respondent’s perception about being branded as anti-brand and thus, impacting the services or relationship they were enjoying with the Company.
Whereas, engaging a third-party research company will ensure that respondent’s name is kept discrete. Maintaining Confidentiality is crucial in market research especially in surveys for brand awareness. Why? It is because any survey involving measurement of brand awareness tends to be ...
... skewed (positively or negatively) if the seller’s brand or logo is disclosed.
Engaging third-party industry research companies will mask the brand or sponsor’s name. As an outcome, results will be more reliable.
Perception- engaging third-party industry research companies for the task to provide the multiple benefits of an outsider's viewpoint and a different new approach. This new perspective may not have been considered by the client company. Unknowingly rejecting innovations and the ability to think out of the box.
A fresh perspective through customer satisfaction surveys remains elusive and that leads to overall stagnation in market penetration, revenue growth, brand establishment and regression in customer retention.
Expertise- The firms in the business of conducting market research have wide domain experience, apart from bringing in an outsider’s perspective. They also have explicit cutting-edge survey tools and resources not accessible in-house.
Industry-specific experience in conducting market research across businesses such as those not exhaustively listed below have an advantage in terms of a rich repository of market intelligence:
Automotive,
Life Sciences & Healthcare,
Energy & Utilities,
Chemicals,
Media & Entertainment,
IT & Telecom,
Banking and Finance,
Metals and Mining,
Retail & CPG,
Food & Beverage or
Logistics & Transportation
Saving of time and resources- it is obvious that if the owner company has to do end-to-end market research on its own, it will have to deploy dedicated manpower and other resources for the purpose. This would not only increase the cost but will increase the turnaround time. The owner company will miss out on the precious factor, time. Engaging experienced, capable, industry research companies also leave the in-house employees to pay attention to their day-to-day jobs and urgencies.