The Tech Help Desk won the decision matrix, but the team's demand rating of 3 out of 5 was just a guess. Before spending money, they need evidence. Marketing research is the process of collecting and analysing information to answer a business question, here: "Will enough students and staff pay for phone and laptop help to make this worthwhile?" Research costs a little time now and can save a lot of money later.
Primary and secondary research
- Surveys: written or online questions to many people
- Observation: watching and counting what people actually do
- Interviews: one-on-one conversations with detailed follow-up questions
- Focus groups: a small group of 6 to 10 people discussing the idea together
- Test sales: actually selling a small amount to see who buys
- Specific to your question, but takes time to collect
- Statistics Canada: census data on population, age, income and households
- Municipal data from city hall: local population, zoning and business licence rules
- Local chamber of commerce: information on local businesses and the business climate
- School board: enrolment numbers for each school
- Industry reports: sales trends in a particular industry
- Fast and often free, but may be general or out of date
Writing a survey that tells the truth
A survey is only as good as its questions and its sample. A biased question pushes people toward an answer. A sample is the group of people you actually survey; it should represent the whole target market. Surveying only your friends gives a biased sample, because friends like you and tend to say yes.
| Biased or weak question | Problem | Better question |
|---|---|---|
| Wouldn't it be great to have cheap tech help at school? | Leading: it suggests the answer is yes | If a phone and laptop help service were available at lunch, how likely would you be to use it? (very likely / somewhat likely / unlikely) |
| Do you like tech and want help with it? | Double-barrelled: asks two things at once | In the past three months, have you had a phone or laptop problem you could not fix yourself? |
| How much would you pay? | Open-ended price questions get unrealistic answers | Would you pay $5 for a 15-minute help session? (yes / no) |
| Do you use tech a lot? | Vague: "a lot" means different things to different people | About how many hours a day do you use a laptop for schoolwork? |
Describing the target market
A target market is the specific group of customers a business aims to serve. Research describes the target market in four layers, and secondary sources help with each one.
| Characteristic | What it describes | Tech Help Desk example | Useful source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Demographic | Age, gender, family size, cultural background | Students aged 14 to 18 and school staff | School board enrolment data, Statistics Canada census |
| Geographic | Where customers live, work or study | People in our school building | School board, city hall |
| Socio-economic | Income, education, occupation | Students with part-time jobs; staff with salaries | Statistics Canada income data for the area |
| Psychographic | Lifestyle, values, interests, attitudes | People who rely on devices but are short on time or confidence | Your own survey and interviews |
Estimating demand from a survey
Once you have survey results, you can estimate how many sales to expect. Find the percentage of your sample who would buy, apply it to the whole target population, then multiply by how often each buyer purchases.