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Conducting meaningful, accurate, and timely research surveys is one of the most important survey tools that governments and businesses can spend money on. Accurate research can increase sales and profits, while bad research can cost an enterprise thousands, if not millions of dollars. Online surveys for research have proven to be a valuable tool for assessing trends and opinions. Whether a large corporation or small business -- or massive bureaucracy or local government, carefully designed and implemented research surveys can drastically change strategies or operations -- and improve profits.
The fact of the matter is that we live in a consumer-driven society. Just read any newspaper or watch any news program and you'll no doubt hear or see some story laced with facts and figures. But research surveys built with survey software aren't just done once and forgotten. Opinions, on all fronts, are fluid -- they can change monthly, daily, and even on the hour.
An online survey for research is conducted for many reasons including scientific interpretation and prediction, experimental analysis, and marketing research, to name a few. Marketing research, a popular survey tool, is categorized by target market or methodological approach. For instance, target markets for market research are consumers or business-to-business (B2B); and the methodological approach can be qualitative or quantitative.
But regardless of the reason or methodological approach for an online survey for research, research surveys offer significant advantages to businesses and governments -- or practically any non-profit or for-profit enterprise. These include:
• To help make marketing decisions - Whether the enterprise markets products or services, research surveys help to make market entry of a new service or product less risky.
• To help pinpoint target markets - By learning about customer buying behavior, age, gender, and location, marketers can zero in with accuracy on target markets for product and service distribution.
• To develop a competitive edge - Surveys for research constructed with survey software can help an enterprise learn about and understand competitors as they relate to customer satisfaction. Research can also identify under-served market segments where consumer needs are falling short of being met.
• To increase sales - Market research advantages in increasing sales is two-fold. First, engaging current customers on their likes and dislikes can boost their loyalty because they know you're taking their needs and desires to heart. Second, making tweaks to products and services or developing new products and services can convert non-users into customers.
• To increase profits - Research surveys can help a company with price elasticity. That is, an organization can learn at which price point customers would be driven away. Not only does this help the company maximize profits, but enables them to survive in the long run.
If you are toying with a new product or service idea, looking to boost sales, or want to identify new target markets, then using a research survey tool is crucial. With an accurate understanding of the customer, product, target market, competitor, and overall industry, research surveys can equip the powers-to-be to make more informed -- and better -- decisions.
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