Marketing research that can be done online

Online research has already become an integral part of marketing strategies. The spread of the Internet and modern technology has made remote research tools accessible and necessary for businesses of all sizes. In particular, online analytics allows you to quickly engage a large audience and receive data from different markets in real time.

The advantages of online methods are the speed and scalability of data collection: compared to traditional approaches, they are often cheaper and faster. On the other hand, such methods depend on the availability of the Internet and the technical skills of the respondents, so you should take into account the characteristics of the target audience.

In this article, we’ll look at the key methods of marketing research that can be conducted online. We will analyze in detail how to conduct interviews and gather focus groups online, study the use of goods and services by consumers, segmentation and competitors, evaluate customer satisfaction and loyalty, brand awareness, and the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. For a better understanding, here are practical tips and examples of application in B2B and B2C segments.

Online interviews

Interviews are one-on-one conversations with a respondent to gain a deeper understanding of their needs, behaviors, and motivations. Online interviews are conducted via video, phone or specialized platforms. This method allows you to reach remote respondents and reduce costs: there is no need to organize trips to the audience, as the participant can take part from anywhere in the world. According to experts, online research is significantly cheaper than offline methods, as it eliminates the cost of transportation, food, and a room.

Typical stages of an online interview:

• preparation of a detailed questionnaire;
• selection of respondents (for example, through questionnaire panels or your own customer base);
• technical testing of communication and recording of conversations.

A useful tool can be a video conference (Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet) with the ability to record. It is important to provide a convenient schedule for the interview, taking into account time zones, and send the respondent screeners in advance.

Online interviews are especially effective when you need to dive deep into a topic. They allow you to get detailed comments and even pick up on the participant’s non-verbal signals (facial expressions, intonation), which provides additional insights. For example, in a B2B interview, you can ask managers or business owners about their business needs, and in a B2C interview, you can ask end users about how they use a product. In general, interviews provide an opportunity to find unexpected conclusions and learn the motives of customer behavior.

Online focus groups

A focus group is a qualitative research method in which 6-10 participants simultaneously discuss a product or concept under the guidance of a moderator. In an online format, focus groups are conducted using video conferencing platforms or specialized software (e.g., virtual classrooms). Participants connect from their computers or smartphones, access the same materials, and can see each other and the presentation slides at the same time.

The advantages of online focus groups are that they preserve the group dynamics and emotions of the discussion (similar to offline), but at a lower cost. Clients often win in terms of budget and timing, as there is no need to pay for room rental, catering, or participant logistics. At the same time, the technical side allows for the use of chat, interactive whiteboards, real-time polling, and recording of the session for further analysis. It turns out that online focus groups explore the same range of opinions as offline ones, but allow you to collect detailed feedback from geographically dispersed participants faster.

Comparisons of online and offline focus groups (surveys and empirical studies from 2020-2023) show that virtual formats offer obvious advantages: wider geographic coverage, faster recruitment, and access to hard-to-reach groups. At the same time, the cost and quality of the data depend on the modality (synchronous or asynchronous), format (chat or video), and organizational settings. Some studies have found online video to be more expensive or less in-depth than traditional offline video, while others have found close comparability in quality with proper moderation and technical support.

Organizing an online focus group:

• Selection of people from the desired target audience (using questionnaire panels, social networks, customer base), taking into account the criteria (age, region, experience);
• Prepare a script, questions, and visuals. Make sure that all files (presentations, videos, images) are available for display in the video conference;
• conduct technical testing the day before the research, send participants an invitation with instructions and a link to the test session to check the sound and images;
• a moderator meets the group at the session, reminds them of the rules, shows them the materials, and guides the discussion. At any time, you can conduct polls, open a private or public chat, and record the session;
• after the focus group is over, review the recording and notes and look for key topics: what participants liked, what ideas were objected to, what should be improved, etc.

To illustrate, let’s imagine that a large pharmaceutical company has conducted online focus groups with doctors and end users to test a new advertising concept. Thanks to the virtual format, the research started two weeks ahead of schedule and saved more than 30% of the budget due to the absence of travel and rent.

Research on the use of goods and services

This method is aimed at studying how consumers use a product or service. Online research allows you to collect information directly from users in their usual environment. This can include photo and video reports, product diaries, home tests, or reviews on social media. The goal is to identify difficulties and positive aspects in the interaction with the product in order to improve its design and functionality.

After all, in order to increase the value of a product, it is useful to know how consumers use it, what problems they have, and what emotions the product evokes. For example, in the B2C segment, «home tests» are conducted: participants receive a product, try it at home, and regularly fill out online questionnaires about their experience. In the B2B segment, you can provide companies with a trial version of software or hardware and track usage rates through application analytics or remote calls with client managers.

Such research allows to identify mismatches between expectations and actual experience at an early stage. For example, if a web application is inconvenient, you can quickly make changes to the design. As a result, the product becomes more useful and understandable for the target audience.

Analyzing the customer portrait

A customer portrait is a generalized description of an ideal consumer or customer that includes demographic, psychographic, and behavioral characteristics. In online research, the portrait is built on the basis of website analytics, CRM, social media, and surveys. For example, for a B2C product, this can include age, gender, profession, income, interests, values, and buying habits. For a B2B service, this includes information about the company, industry, respondent’s position, goals, and problems.

Portrait analysis helps to detail the target audience: you better understand what your customer is looking for and how to convey it to them. A well-designed customer profile allows you to reduce marketing costs and make your offers as relevant as possible. So it turns out that if your audience is young professionals, you should emphasize communication on Instagram or YouTube, and for a B2B company manager, you should use LinkedIn and webinars.

Stages of portrait research:

• conducting a survey of existing customers and potential buyers using questionnaires on the website, email newsletters, or opinion polls. It is also worth analyzing analytics: Google Analytics, CRM reports, social media reviews;
• classify and group customers by key characteristics: age, geography, goals, and how they use the product. You can use clustering in Google Sheets or special analytics services;
• create detailed descriptions of «personas» – for example, «Maria, 35, marketer, looking for effective analytics tools», indicating motivations and barriers to purchase;
• test the resulting personas on new user groups or through A/B tests of advertising messages.

As a result, a holistic view of the customer is formed, which allows you to align all marketing activities around their needs and behavior. Everything from products to advertising messages becomes more effective when they are customized to a specific customer profile. And when you know your audience deeply, it’s easier to reduce dropouts when attracting customers and increase conversions.

Market segmentation research

Market segmentation is the process of dividing the entire market into homogeneous groups of consumers, each of which has common needs or characteristics. Online methods allow you to do this quickly and flexibly. Businesses usually choose several segmentation criteria:

• Demographic (age, gender, income)
• geographic (region, city);
• behavioral (buying habits, loyalty);
• psychographic (values, lifestyle).

To conduct online segmentation, you need to take a number of steps.

1. Define the criteria. Decide which parameters are important for your product. For example, age and income are important for a consumer product, and company size and industry are important for a B2B service.
2. Collect data. Conduct an online survey or use existing databases. Ask about the age category, geography, and how the product is used. You can use a combined format: closed questions for quantitative categorization and open questions to understand needs.
3. Analyze the answers. Process the survey results, for example, in Google Sheets or special software. Identify groups of respondents with similar characteristics. It is important to experiment with different combinations of segments and analyze each group separately.
4. Test the target segments. Once the segments are identified, create common characteristics for them and run small pilot campaigns. For example, you can test banner ads for each group and find out which segment responds best.

This way, you can identify narrow niche segments or create standardized groups for targeting. Online segmentation analysis allows you to quickly test the hypothesis of audience distribution and adjust your marketing strategy in time.

Price monitoring

Competitor price monitoring is the collection of data on current prices, discounts, and promotions of competitors via the Internet. In the online environment, this can be done automatically with the help of special services or scripts that periodically scan store websites and price lists. The data obtained makes it possible to assess the dynamics of prices in the market and respond to changes in a timely manner.

The key task is to quickly compare your prices with the market to remain competitive. Automated systems generate real-time information on competitors’ prices, collecting information on current offers, promotional discounts, and product availability. If a competitor suddenly lowers the price of a popular product, the analyst will see it immediately and can adjust his or her own pricing policy.

In the B2C retail segment, price monitoring is a standard practice in e-commerce: it allows you not to lose sales due to overpricing. In B2B, it is also useful, for example, for assessing the market value of services and materials. Price data is used for optimal pricing by modeling the response of demand to different price levels.

Competitive analysis

Competitive analysis is the study of the main competitors in the market, their products, strategies, and positions. Online methods allow you to quickly collect information about competitors from open sources: websites, social networks, ads, reports, and customer reviews.

When conducting an analysis, you need to

• Find and organize information about companies offering similar products or services. Evaluate their product lines and market segments;
• collect and analyze data on competitors’ market share, sales volumes, prices, and product mix. For example, you can use Google Trends data, reports from analytical agencies, or monitor media mentions;
• Assess strengths and weaknesses; as the SBA notes, you need to «assess market share, strengths, weaknesses, barriers to entry, etc.» Collecting feedback from competitors’ customers through online reviews will help identify their shortcomings;
• check the positioning, compare pricing policies and unique trade offers of competitors. For example, make a SWOT analysis of each important player to understand their strategy.

To illustrate, let’s imagine an online store conducting a competitive analysis. It launches market research among its audience on why customers choose it or alternative stores. It also hires «mystery shoppers» who order goods from competitors and evaluate the quality of service.

The advantage of online analysis is the quick comparison of data and flexibility: any new competitor or trend immediately comes into view. For example, if a startup with a similar product appears, you can quickly study its positioning by analyzing websites and social networks without waiting for annual reports.

Customer satisfaction and loyalty surveys

Customer satisfaction surveys (CSATs) measure how well a product or service meets user expectations. Online methods allow you to collect such data through instant post-purchase surveys, rating scales in emails or SMS, and website behavior analytics. For example, after making a purchase, you can automatically send a request for a service rating (with a scale from 1 to 5) and ask for comments about the experience.

After the satisfaction assessment, loyalty is studied – the customer’s willingness to return and recommend the brand. The NPS (Net Promoter Score) method is popular here: the respondent answers the question «Would you recommend our product/service to your friends?» on a scale from 0 to 10. Based on the results of the survey, the business finds out whether the offer has enough advantages for repeat purchases.

Online satisfaction and loyalty surveys are quickly scalable: they include automatic survey triggers, integration with CRM and analytics (for example, you can transfer the satisfaction rate after a survey on the website to Google Analytics). Based on the results, the company can determine which aspects of the service need to be improved (delivery, warranty, support, etc.) and which conversion paths to strengthen. In general, these surveys show whether the customer’s expectations coincide with reality and what needs to be done to keep them coming back for a second purchase.

Brand awareness research

Online brand awareness research allows you to assess how familiar your brand is to your target audience and what associations are associated with it. Typical metrics include brand recognition from a list, recognition without prompts, and growth in recognition after an advertising campaign. Researchers often conduct surveys to find out if a person has seen a company’s ad and what they remember about the brand.

Online methods include:

The purpose of this research is to understand whether the target audience knows your brand and perceives you correctly. If it turns out that recognition is low or distorted, brand positioning and communication need to be adjusted.

An example of a measure is conducting an online survey with random users with questions on recognition. In B2C, it can even be a mass survey of potential consumers on social media. For B2B, it can be a survey of industry experts or partners. You can also track the growth of awareness through the analysis of advertising indicators: whether the number of search queries with the brand name increased after the campaign, whether there was an increase in traffic to the site.

Advertising campaign research

Online research on the effectiveness of advertising campaigns includes the analysis of data on interaction with advertising: from clicks and conversions to reach and recognition. The main goal is to evaluate the results and optimize future steps.

The methods are as follows:

1. Traffic and conversion analytics. We use Google Analytics, Facebook Ads Manager, etc. to see how many users clicked on the ad and what they did (registration, purchase).
2. A/B tests. We compare different creatives or landing pages in real time. For example, we run two versions of a banner with different headlines and see which one brings more clicks.
3. Feedback surveys. After receiving advertising, you can engage in focus groups or individual interviews to find out the impressions. This will provide qualitative insights into why the campaign worked or not.
4. Sales funnel metrics. We compare leads and sales before and after the campaign launch, calculate ROI (return on investment). For B2B, this can be the number of customers received, and for B2C, it can be sales or subscriptions.

Any elements of the campaign that received the greatest response should be reused in subsequent marketing campaigns. In other words, if a certain advertising message or channel brought the highest conversion rate, you should focus more resources on it. In B2B, «lead generation» is often measured through CRM, and in B2C, sales and awareness, such as the frequency of brand mentions in search. The generalized results of such an assessment help to adjust the strategy – adjust the budget between channels or update creatives.

Online campaign monitoring allows you to react quickly. This means that if Facebook ads suddenly lose their effectiveness, a specialist can change the target audience settings or stop the campaign until the content is updated. The collected data provides insights not only into past but also future trends, so you can plan your ads more thoughtfully and flexibly.

So, we can conclude that online marketing research is a powerful set of methods for making informed decisions. They include both quantitative and qualitative tools that allow businesses to respond quickly and flexibly to market needs. Applying these methods to campaigns helps to get to know customers better, optimize products, determine pricing strategies, and increase advertising effectiveness. By improving online market research, companies gain a competitive advantage – they do not move blindly, but on the basis of reliable data and real insights.

Olha Tyshchenko

Editor

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