Market Research

Market research is defined as the process of evaluating the feasibility of a new

product or service, through research conducted directly with potential
consumers. This method allows organizations or businesses to discover their
target market, collect and document opinions and make informed decisions.

Market research can be conducted directly by organizations or companies or

can be outsourced to agencies which have expertise in this process.

The process of market research can be done through deploying surveys,

interacting with a group of people also known as sample, conducting
interviews and other similar processes.  

the importance of market research for financial

institutions
Market research is an extremely valuable tool that provides many benefits to a variety of
organizations. This type of research allows a company to further understand and determine the
potential success of a product or service by connecting directly with both current and
prospective customers. Market research for financial marketing specifically, is a driving factor in
the overall success of a monetary-focused integrated marketing strategy. Here is a quick guide
detailing some essential steps your financial business can follow in order to begin conducting
useful market research:

Determine exactly who your target audience is in greater detail.

Research demographics that allow you to recognize both the opportunities and threats
when gaining new customers. This includes data such as age, household income,
education, employment, interests, financial habits, or anything else relevant to your
business.

Gain a better overall understanding of your industry and the current market
trends.

There are multiple resources available to analyze this type of general data that can be a
great starting point when determining any recent demands for products and services,
and how many competitors offering similar options are available to your customers,
such as investment services, first-time home buying focused financing, and credit card
rewards.

Determine which method(s) to consider based on your initial research, goals and
objectives. 
  Competitive Analysis: This includes analyzing the strengths and weaknesses
for both your company and its corporate competitors, as well as both the
potential opportunities for you when introducing a new product or service, and
any roadblocks or threats you may face when entering the market. It is also
important to determine the general importance of your target audience to your
competitors and how their audiences may differ and why.
 Customer Surveys / Questionnaires: This includes directly asking current
customers for their honest feedback. These can be formatted in a variety of ways
– whether it’s a satisfaction scale survey after an email or phone call, or a more
in-depth questionnaire in hopes of gaining written responses that will offer further
insight into the consumer’s thoughts and feelings. It is also important to
remember that sending out surveys on a timely, strategic basis may help
determine if any customer’s feelings and/or their demand towards a specific
financial service has changed over time based on their experiences.
 Focus Groups: This includes face-to-face interaction with a small group of
people that have been strategically selected for participation based on
demographics and/or other applicable consumer data. This technique then allows
the company to gain high-quality insights and customer feedback. This research
technique then allows you to leverage those opinions, interpretations,
perceptions, etc. about your bank, credit union, or other financial institution’s
reputation and offerings into improved sales, marketing, and operational
strategies.
Market research is an important marketing function for financial institutions to implement
in order to acquire new ideas and perspectives from consumer feedback that further
explains why target audiences make certain decisions, what their needs and interests
are, as well as the overall buying trends within the finance and banking industry.

…………………………………

The Importance of Market Research

Successfully running and growing your business depends on understanding
your target customers. Once you have a clear picture of their goals, needs, and
values, you are more able to drive them towards purchasing your products or
services.

Market research is one of the best tools you have for understanding your
customers. It gives you hard data that you can use to drive your marketing
strategy, making both marketing and selling easier and more effective. 

Market research helps you:

  Improve communication. It drives your communication not only with your
current customer base but with target prospects as well. Market research
shows you where your customers can be reached, as well as what
language will be most effective in attracting their attention and resonating
with them on an emotional level.
 Identify opportunity. Market research helps you identify both high-level
and more accessible opportunities for reaching and converting new
customers. It can be the best way to discover new platforms for
advertising, consumer concerns you were unaware of, and gaps within
your market that you can fill.
 Lower your risk. Concrete data keeps you focused on the real
opportunities and helps you avoid unproductive effort. When you
understand your customers, you can use your resources to reach them
more effectively, with less risk of wasting time, money, and effort on
marketing initiatives that don't work. Market research also helps you
identify low-risk, high-reward areas where your company can expand or
offer new services,

The Importance of Marketing Research

Marketing research is important for evaluating what is and is not working in your
business model. It includes research into your target market, as well as the
systems in your business that make up your marketing conditions.

Marketing research looks at every aspect of the Four Ps of marketing: product,

price, place, and promotion. This includes:

 Public Relations
 Modes of distribution
 Development of new products/services
 Promotions and advertising
 Pricing
 Market conditions
 Branding

Marketing research helps you learn not just what your customers want, but how
successful your business is at reaching and connecting with them. It helps you
identify problems and opportunities, refine your systems, and evaluate your
marketing strategy.

How to Conduct Research for Your Business

Though they look at different aspects of your business, both market research and
marketing research should follow the same pattern of data collection and
analysis.

1. Define the problem. Start by identifying the focus of your research.

Knowing what question you are trying to answer will help you structure
your research effectively.
2. Determine your budget and timeframe. How much can you afford to
spend on the research process? How soon will you need to have data
collection completed? Like all the strategies that you use to grow your
business, research should be conducted within your available resources.
However, depending on the urgency of the questions you are answering, it
may be worth spending more money to get the most comprehensive
results possible.
3. Design your method and needs. Identify what data needs to be collected
and how you will gather it. Some options are observation, surveys,
telephone calls, or focus groups. If you are unsure how to structure your
data collection, consider working with a professional research firm.
4. Choose a sampling method. How will you select the participants for your
research? You may need a random sampling from the general population
of consumers, a group that all have a single lifestyle factor in common, or
responses only from people who are already your customers. Create a
plan for identifying and contacting your participants.
5. Plan for data analysis. Decide how you will analyze your data. Will you
need quantitative data for statistical analysis or qualitative, observational
data to give you a broad picture? Will you use software or do it by hand?
Take time to learn about various methods of analysis to find the one that
will best answer your research question.
6. Data collection. Once you know what question you want to answer and
have designed a research method to answer it within the constraints of
your available budget and time, it's time to collect data. Many businesses
work with professional firms or consultants to conduct their actual
research.
7. Analysis of the data. No matter how straightforward your data seems at
first glance, you'll want to use specific methods of analysis to ensure that
you understand what it is telling you. The methods of analysis that you use
will depend on the type of data you collected. This should also be when
you check for errors, which can occur in your sampling method, data
collection, and analysis.
8. Create your report. The final step of the research process is drafting a
report on your findings. Your report should outline the entire research
process, from developing your problem statement to the results of your
data analysis.
No matter what type of research you are conducting, you will need to follow the
full research method to arrive at a conclusion that will benefit your business. If
your findings lead to a solution to your problem statement, you will be able to
decide on the next steps for your business.

If you were unable to answer your research question, that doesn't mean your
research was done incorrectly. You may discover that you need to ask different
questions or that the situation was more complicated than you anticipated. When
that happens, it's time to continue your research until you've arrived at a solution.

What is a Research Report?

A research report is a well-crafted document that outlines the processes, data,
and findings of a systematic investigation. It is an important document that
serves as a first-hand account of the research process, and it is typically
considered an objective and accurate source of information.

In many ways, a research report can be considered as a summary of the research

process that clearly highlights findings, recommendations, and other important
details. Reading a well-written research report should provide you with all the
information you need about the core areas of the research process.
Structure and Example of a Research Report

 Title

This is the title of your systematic investigation. Your title should be concise
and point to the aims, objectives, and findings of a research report. 

 Table of Contents

This is like a compass that makes it easier for readers to navigate the research
report.

 Abstract

An abstract is an overview that highlights all important aspects of the research

including the research method, data collection process, and research findings.
Think of an abstract as a summary of your research report that presents pertinent
information in a concise manner. 
An abstract is always brief; typically 100-150 words and goes straight to the
point. The focus of your research abstract should be the 5Ws and 1H format –
What, Where, Why, When, Who and How. 

 Introduction

Here, the researcher highlights the aims and objectives of the systematic
investigation as well as the problem which the systematic investigation sets out
to solve. When writing the report introduction, it is also essential to indicate
whether the purposes of the research were achieved or would require more
work.

In the introduction section, the researcher specifies the research problem and
also outlines the significance of the systematic investigation. Also, the
researcher is expected to outline any jargons and terminologies that are
contained in the research.  

 Literature Review

A literature review is a written survey of existing knowledge in the field of

study. In other words, it is the section where you provide an overview and
analysis of different research works that are relevant to your systematic
investigation. 

It highlights existing research knowledge and areas needing further

investigation, which your research has sought to fill. At this stage, you can also
hint at your research hypothesis and its possible implications for the existing
body of knowledge in your field of study. 

 An Account of Investigation

This is a detailed account of the research process, including the methodology,

sample, and research subjects. Here, you are expected to provide in-depth
information on the research process including the data collection and analysis
procedures. 

In a quantitative research report, you'd need to provide information surveys,

questionnaires and other quantitative data collection methods used in your
research. In a qualitative research report, you are expected to describe the
qualitative data collection methods used in your research including interviews
and focus groups. 

 Findings

In this section, you are expected to present the results of the systematic
investigation. 

 Discussion

This section further explains the findings of the research, earlier outlined. Here,
you are expected to present a justification for each outcome and show whether
the results are in line with your hypotheses or if other research studies have
come up with similar results.

 Conclusions

This is a summary of all the information in the report. It also outlines the
significance of the entire study. 

 References and Appendices

This section contains a list of all the primary and secondary research sources. 

5 PRINCIPLES OF REPORT
DESIGN
1. ACCURACY
 
The accuracy principle simply means that the content of a report
represents what it claims it does. It involves, for example, ensuring that
the written components and titles in the report are free from spelling and
grammatical errors and that the data presented is associated with the time
period(s) indicated. It should also require that the titles and descriptions
in the report are consistent with the actual amounts included in the report.

2. CONSISTENCY
 
The consistency principle requires that the format and layout of a report
are similar to prior issuances of the same report and/or other reports
issued by the same department. In many organizations, selected
individuals or departments (such as the CFO or the board of directors)
will receive many different reports each period. Depending on how well
such a recipient organizes reports, whether electronic or in paper form,
having a consistent (and, in certain cases, distinctive) format or “feel” for
each report or for each issuing department will allow the recipient to
quickly identify a needed report for a specific related decision. Having a
consistent format can also provide a brand style for the source department
or individual preparer.

3. APPEARANCE
 
The appearance principle means that the report is aesthetically pleasing
and also professional-looking. (After all, this is similar to but not quite
the same as creating artwork.) Aesthetically pleasing reports should
include proper alignments and should make appropriate use of white
space, borders, shading, and color. The purpose of most reports is to
support decision making, and improving the appearance of the report can
often help to draw the attention of the decision maker to the most relevant
data items (and can avoid distracting the recipient).
4. EFFICIENCY
 
The efficiency principle involves ensuring that a standard report can be
prepared as quickly and easily as possible. This often means utilizing
automated or formulaic fields where possible. This will help to minimize
the data entry and computations necessary for the preparation of reports.
If possible, building reports to extract data directly from the underlying
accounting system, both for labels and amounts, can create the greatest
efficiency. In one of my prior professional positions, where a legacy,
homegrown accounting system with poor reporting capabilities was used,
we created higher-quality reports with many automated fields using
Microsoft Access. The reports then extracted data from SQL tables that
were created in a nightly download from the accounting system.
 

5. USABILITY
 
The usability principle relates very specifically to decision support for the
report recipients. It involves considering how the report will be
disseminated. In that regard, report data should be organized to allow for
easy extraction by recipients. It should also be easily understandable
given the specific background(s) of the recipients. My professional
experience included working for a scientific organization, a
manufacturing organization, and a healthcare/education organization.
Each of those industries involved specialized vernacular that may not
have been understandable to the general public. As such, it was always
important that I considered the backgrounds of the specific recipient(s)
for each report that I was preparing or reviewing and ensured that the
format and terminology would be understandable.