Where to find statistical data by leveraging the web as a resource

The best sources to use during online market research.

Interesting market analysis and statistical surveys both have a fundamental starting point: quality online sources. But where to find statistical data for market research? 

This is the question we at CMI asked ourselves when we developed our Market X-Ray method for actionable and truly useful market research for companies.  

It did not take us long to realize that we needed online, reliable, up-to-date sources that were of real use to our corporate clients, avoiding telephone/virtual interviews and surveys. We also defined that drawing from these sources manually would be impossible and would provide us with superficial information.

The best method to obtain actionable statistical data from companies, thus usable to put actions aimed at brand success into practice, is to put the   Web Listening , or “listening” to the Web using appropriate software and tools.

These tools allow us to obtain otherwise unthinkable, unattainable information. And to skim data irrelevant to the objective, drawing Big data exclusively from reliable sources. 

Are you wondering what channels we draw from to listen to the network? Let’s look at them in the next paragraphs.

1) Google Trends, one of the most useful sources for market research.

Google Trends is a free tool from Google that allows us to mine a pleasant amount of data useful for our market analysis.

Using specific tools, we can not only query Google Trends but also extract key information to:

• Understand what the trends are in your market 
• Understand which products/services are most important to your target customers and what are the salient features of these products/services
• Identify consumers’ favorite brands 
• Check where your brand and competitors stand in the marketplace 
• Determine what consumers are looking for about your competitors

And so much more. This information is therefore useful for various aspects of a market research: it allows us to contribute to the analysis of competitors, your brand, and target customers.

By combining data intercepted from Google Trends with data from other sources, we help you study new strategies, improve those already in place, and try to reach customers as effectively as possible. 

2) Blogs, review sites, online newspapers and forums to intercept what customers are saying and what your competitors are doing. 

Extrapolating data from online sources such as sites, blogs, newspapers, and forums allows us to understand numerous aspects of your market. 

For example, we can identify what your target customers’ opinion is about your brand and that of your competitors, find out the latest innovations in the market, and figure out how to communicate with your potential customers.

By analyzing these sources, we can also understand which products your target customers like best, which are least liked, and why.

These are just examples regarding the amount of information that can be extracted from the web!

For our part, in addition to providing you with clear and truly useful reports based on the data intercepted online, we provide you with our interpretation of these reports accompanied by useful advice aimed at implementing business and marketing strategies.

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3) Organic search results and advertisements on Google.

One of the best ways to get website traffic and generate conversions is to analyze the organic search results and Google ads (Google Ads) of your company and competing companies.

Analysis of these two aspects allows you to understand what strategies your competitors are adopting and what opportunities your company has to compete with them online.

They also allow you to plan an excellent SEO campaign and Pay Per Click strategy with the aim of getting more traffic to your website.

With the appropriate tools, we can also check which keywords are relevant to your market and select those to target for SEO and Google Ads campaign.

Keyword research also allows you to find related keywords to your main keywords and draw up an editorial calendar for your web content. 

Keywords are nothing more than users’ Google searches inherent to your market: targeting the right ones and talking about the topics searched by your target customers means you have a great chance of generating web traffic and conversions!

4) Social networks and Twitter, the ideal sources for communicating best with your potential customers.

Analyzing Twitter and social media such as Facebook and Instagram allows us to intercept so much information that you can use to benefit your business.

For example, thanks to Social and the micro-blogging service Twitter we can understand:

• What are your best and worst social media strategies
• How do your competitors and target customers move on these channels and which ones do they use the most 
• Which content is interesting in the eyes of your potential customers (and which is not)
• What your target customers write on these channels, specifically what their opinions are about your brand and that of your competitors
• How to communicate the right way with your customers
• What are the most talked about topics at different times of the year

And so much more. 

By studying the data gleaned from these analyses, we can tell you in which areas you should improve, which strategies would be best to adopt and which ones to drop, as well as provide you with useful tips on using different social media.

Read also: Research and surveys: the (necessary) questions to get to the right answers

5) Amazon’s analytics, critical to market research for so many companies.

By now a large number of companies have an Amazon storefront. 

If you don’t have one, you’re probably thinking that you, too, should expand your online marketplace on the very platform most used for shopping on the Web.

If, on the other hand, you have already taken your products to Amazon, then you are probably wondering if your strategy is working and what to do to make better money.

Whatever your scenario, we at CMI can intercept all potential customer research related to your market and study it using special software.

We use this information to understand this and more:

• Which products have the most searches and which convert the most 
• If users know which brand to buy from for a specific product category (do people have a brand in mind or not? Is it yours or a competitor’s?)
• The quantities of products purchased by users, which is essential for understanding whether and when to sell single products or product bundles

With this and other useful data, you can improve your Amazon strategy (or devise a perfect one even before you put your products up for sale on the platform) and, as a result, earn more money.

Do you need actionable market research?

To carry it out we use the sources we told you about in the article, but we can implement others according to your particular needs.

Our market analyses are actionable, so they can be used right away to take actions (= devise strategies) to benefit your business. 

What are you waiting for? Contact us now to request a free personalized quote!