To answer the question, “how can I get the answers I need to solve the new business challenges I face every day?”, there are two answers that go hand in hand: a good exploitation of your analytics, that come from the results of a solid Market research report. Market research analyses are the go-to solution for many professionals, and with reason: they save time, they provide new insights and clarification on the business market you are working on, and help you to refine and polish your strategy. Besides, they also add more credibility to your work and add weight to any marketing recommendations you would give to a client or executive.

However, today’s business world still lacks a way to present market research results in an efficient manner – the static and never-up-to-date nature of PowerPoint makes it a bad choice in the matter, yet it is still widely used to present results. Today, there are online data visualization tools that make it easy and fast to build powerful market research dashboards. They come in handy to manage the results, but also the most important aspect of any analysis: the presentation of said results, without which it becomes hard to make accurate, sound decisions.  In this article, we see what the benefits of conducting market research analyses are, as well as how to write and present the reports, illustrated with three market research results examples of dashboards.

Why You Need Market Research Reports

As the adage goes, „look before you leap“ – and that is exactly what a market research report is here for. Like the headlights of a car, they will show you the pitfalls and fast lanes on your road to success: likes and dislikes of a specific market segment in a certain geographical area, their expectations and readiness. Among other things, a market research report will let you:

• Get a holistic view of the market: learn more about the target market and understand the various factors involved in the buying decisions. Getting a broader view of the market lets you benchmark other companies you do not focus on.
• Validate internal research: doing internal analysis is one thing, but double-checking with a third-party also greatly helps in not getting blinded by your own data.
• Use actionable data and make informed decisions: once you understand consumer behavior as well as the market, your competitors, and the issues that will affect the industry in the future, you are better armed  to position your brand. Combining all of it with the quantitative data collected will allow you for a more successful product development.
• Strategic planning: when you want to map out big-picture organizational goals, launch a new product development, plan a geographic market expansion, or even a merger and acquisition – all of this strategic thinking needs solid foundations to fulfil the variety of challenges that come along.

How To Write A Market Research Report

Market research reports are composed by two types of research: primary and secondary research. The primary research is made on your own, with internal data. It monitors the already-existing business practices, the effectiveness of sales and the tools used for communication for instance. It also assesses the market competition by evaluating the business plans of the competitors. The secondary research is using already-existing data collected by a third party, that is used to perform benchmarking and market analysis. It helps in figuring out which market segments are the ones the company should focus its efforts on for instance, or to see where the brand is standing in the minds of consumers.

To start with, keep in mind that your writing should be concise and accurate: straight to the point without omitting information. From the page title to the table of content, only add relevant information that can be used by the destination audience of the report. The data compiled should be cleaned and organized, with participant grouped into relevant categories (demographics, profession, industry, education, etc). A good help in the matter is the use of a market research software.

Write an executive summary of one or two page that will explain the general idea of the report. Then, comes the usual body parts:

• An introduction providing background information, target audience and objectives,
• The qualitative research, describing the participants in the research and why they are relevant for the business,
• The survey research, outlining the questions asked and answered,
• A summary of the data used to draw the conclusions, the research methods chosen and why,
• A presentation of the findings based on the research you conducted, and an in-depth explanation of these conclusions.

This last step is the most critical one, because it is the moment you present the market research results that are impactful and can make the difference for the future and the strategy of your company. This presentation is usually followed by a call to action to the reader/meeting participant: they need to have a clear vision of these findings and understand them well.

Bringing Your Market Research Report A Step Further

Even if still wide-spread for market research results presentation, the use of PowerPoint at this stage is a hassle and presents many downsides and complications. When always-busy managers or short-on-time top executive grab a report, they want a quick overview that provides them with an idea of the results, the big-picture that addresses the objectives: they need a dashboard.

We all know that a picture conveys more information than simple text or figures, so managing to bring it all together on an actionable dashboard will convey your message more efficiently. Besides, market research dashboards have the incredible advantage to always be up-to-date, since they work with real-time data: the synchronization/updating nightmare of dozens of PowerPoint slides doesn’t exist for you anymore. This is particularly helpful for tracking studies performed over time, that recurrently need their data to be updated with more recent ones.

How To Present Your Results: 3 Market Research Example Dashboards

Market research dashboards are the best fit when it comes to sharing the most important information, as it allows everyone to quickly grasp the results and findings on a single page, and easily. Dashboards also have interactive features that let the user drill-down within specific set of data, change parameters like the gender, the age, the region, and filter the results thanks to it.

Market Research Report: Brand Analysis

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Our first market research example shares the results of a brand analysis study. To do so, a survey has been performed on a sample of 1333 people, an information that we can see in detail on the left side of the board, summarizing the gender, age groups and geolocation.

On the centre on the dashboard we can see the market research results concerning first the brand awareness with and without help, as well as a themes and celebrity suggestion, to know which image the audience associates with the brand.

Such dashboards are extremely convenient to share the most important information in a snapshot. Besides, being interactive (but it cannot be seen on an image), it is even easier to filter the results according to certain criteria without needing to produce dozens of PowerPoint slides. For instance, I could easily filter the data by choosing only the female answers, or only the people aged between 25 and 34, or only the 25-34 males if that is my target audience.

Market Research Results on Customer Satisfaction

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Here we have some of the most important data a brand should care about: their already-existing customers and their perception of the relationship they have with the brand. It is crucial when we know that it is 5 times more expensive to acquire a new customer than to retain one.

This is why tracking metrics like the Customer Effort Score, or the Net Promoter Score (how likely are consumers to recommend your products and services) is essential, especially over time. You need to improve these scores to have happy customers who will always have a much bigger impact on their friends and relatives than any of your amazing ad campaigns. Looking at other satisfaction indicators like the quality, the pricing and design, or the service they received is also a best practice: you want a global view of your performance when it comes to customer satisfaction metrics.

Such market research results reports are a great tool for managers who do not have much time, and hence need to use it effectively. Thanks to these dashboards, they can control data for long-running projects at any time.

Market Research Results on Product Innovation

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This final market research example of report focuses on the product itself, and its innovation. It is a useful report for future product development and market potential, as well as pricing decisions.

Using the same sample of surveyed people as for the first report, they answer questions about their potential usage and purchase of said product. It is a good primary feedback on how the market would receive the new product you would launch. Then comes the willingness to pay, that helps in setting a price range that will not be too cheap to be trusted, nor too expensive for what it is. That will be a main information for your pricing strategy.

In today’s fast-paced business environment, companies have to identify and grab new opportunities as they arise, while staying away from threats and adapt quickly. In order to always be a step further and make the right decisions, it is critical to perform market research studies to get the information needed and make important decisions with confidence.

A visual market research report is the best way to understand your customer and thus increase their satisfaction by answering their needs and expectations. It also helps you see what the factors influencing your business are, where your brand is situated, and get the temperature of the market before a product launch. Once all the analysis and studies are done, it is time to present them efficiently, so as to onboard everyone and make the right decisions for your business strategy: market research reports are your key allies in the matter.

To start presenting your results with efficient market research reports, you can try our dashboard reporting software and test it thanks to our 14-day free trial!

The post How To Present Your Market Research Results And Reports In An Efficient Way appeared first on BI Blog | Data Visualization & Analytics Blog | datapine.