Qualitative market research: definition and meaning

What is qualitative market research and how does it prove useful for companies in any industry.

When people talk about business market research, they often talk about quantitative and qualitative surveys, which are essential for making thoughtful business decisions and adopting successful strategies.

Today we want to focus specifically on qualitative market research, offering you the definition of this procedure and the meaning of the term “qualitative.”

Definition of qualitative market research.

Qualitative market research is the procedure of collecting, recording, and analyzing data regarding marketing issues, aimed at exploring and understanding the target market, consumer perceptions, behavior, and emotions.

Not surprisingly, it is also known as exploratory market research. Yes, exploratory research and qualitative research are synonymous.

Qualitative surveys tend to build on data obtained during the quantitative phase (the massive collection of data aimed at answering precise marketing questions by investigating the “what”) by conducting even more in-depth analysis .

Particularly during qualitative research, market research companies such as CMI ask why they obtain data by focusing exactly on understanding the attitude, needs and feelings of their target customers.

Although the big sister of qualitative research-that is, quantitative market research-is usually the focus of attention, the exploratory survey is also extremely useful for companies because it allows them to refine their analysis and get even more precise answers.

Let’s now look at what the qualitative phase of market surveys is for and why, given the chance, it would be best to put it in for the benefit of your business.

Read also: 3 reasons why you should consider quantitative market research (without neglecting qualitative research)

Qualitative market research allows you to know your target market perfectly.

Customers’ needs, preferences, and buying behavior are often dictated by their emotions, experiences, and past experiences.

Quantitative research allows you to have a very clear idea about the behavior patterns and decisions of various market segments… While qualitative research investigates why consumers make decisions, prefer one product or brand over another, buy low/high, and more.

Thoroughly analyzing the target market allows you to study more accurate strategies, with a higher probability of success, and to outperform the competition.

Understanding consumers means putting yourself in their shoes and knowing precisely what drives them to purchase and what does not. It also allows you to better communicate with them and increasingly thin the barrier between company and customer.

Sharply reduce the wall that stands between your company and your target customers, increasing trust in the brand? Thanks to qualitative research you can!

With qualitative research you can learn, among other information, why your target customers prefer to communicate with brands on one channel rather than another and which modes they prefer.

Knowing how to communicate perfectly with your customers means reducing the gap between them and your company, better capturing consumers’ attention, and increasing your company’s trust and reputation.

An excellent communication strategy usually means only one thing: steady increase in ROI and growth of the company in the target market.

In addition to communicating better, through qualitative market research you can improve your product/service offerings and tailor them perfectly to your customers’ needs.

Qualitative surveys enable you to respond excellently to your customers’ needs.

Knowing not only what consumers’ needs are but also the reasons for those needs is crucial for those who want to reach the largest number of (qualified) customers and increase the chances of business growth.

With the information obtained from qualitative research you can:

• Update your products/services according to customers’ wishes
• Change or improve promotion methods and channels
• Know which products or services to launch and which ones you should set aside

And much, much more!

In fact, qualitative market surveys give you precise answers to useful (fundamental) marketing questions for your business.

Read also: Qualitative research in marketing: definition and difference with quantitative research

What marketing questions can qualitative market research answer?

During qualitative research, we at CMI further scan the Big Data acquired during the quantitative survey and focus on consumers’ emotions, perceptions, and behavior.

Starting with a large lot of data that give us dry answers, we can further investigate the reasons for those answers.

Here are, below, some examples:

• Once we know the size of the target market and future prospects, we can investigate why the target market will expand or shrink.
• By knowing customers’ opinions about your company, we can understand why they have a positive/negative/average opinion and how to improve consumers’ perception of your brand.
• Having learned about your competitors’ position relative to your company, we can understand why they have a higher/lower position and what strategies you could adopt to grow in your target market.
• Having known which channels your target customers prefer and what the patterns are, we can investigate why and enable you to adopt the best possible way of communicating, empathizing with customers.

These are examples of information obtainable with the qualitative survey that allow you to get an idea regarding its usefulness to your business.

Final Conclusions.

Qualitativemarket research enables you to grow quickly in your target market, solve marketing problems to perfection, and get closer and closer to consumers by empathizing with them.

Would you like to receive more information about this and learn what we at Central Marketing Intelligence can do for you?

DO YOU WANT TO MAKE ACCURATE AND TARGETED DECISIONS, INTERCEPT NEW CUSTOMERS AND INCREASE BUSINESS PROFITS?

FILL OUT THE FORM AND REQUEST A CONSULTATION

One of our Big Data for Business experts will contact you in the next few hours.