What are the best market research tools?
Here's my pick of the best market research tools.
1. Typeform: Best for creating feedback forms
Typeform is a completely cloud-based tool for creating feedback and surveys. With it, you can create quick and easy surveys to collect customer data in ways that are engaging, meaningful, and exciting.
Typeform's user interface is intuitive and simple, and you can use a drag-and-drop system to create custom surveys. It also offers detailed analysis and reporting functions, as well as the ability to view survey responses in real time.
One aspect of this software that I like is its ability to personalize surveys based on your brand image. The variety of surveys you can create is also appealing, ranging from short text quizzes to image-based surveys, and more.
Features
All the features that Typeform offers revolve around a simple principle: the quality of the answers you get depends on how you ask the questions. That's why this tool makes it easy to create trending surveys that users can't get enough of.
Here is a list of some of the important features that Typeform offers:
- Computer and mobile phone surveys
- Data analysis tools
- Fully cloud-based operation
- Detailed documentation
- Live online training
- Development of forms without code
- Easy integration with over 500 business applications
Pricing
Typeform offers a free plan that allows you to get a feel for the platform and its capabilities. If you find that your needs are not fully met by the free plan, you can opt for one of the paid plans.
The paid plans for Typeform are distributed as follows:
- $30/month Essential Plan
- Professional plan at $35/month
- Premium plan starting at $59/month
You can also opt for customized plans that meet your business needs exactly. To do this, you'll need to contact the Typeform sales team for exact details. I recommend that you go for the annual plans because it allows you to save a bit.
2. SurveyMonkey: Best Solution for Creating In-Depth Online Surveys
If you are wondering if your customers are happy with your offers, SurveyMonkey maybe your best friend. It is a powerful piece of software that allows you to create quick surveys to assess the response of your target market.
With this tool, you can easily create advanced surveys, conduct online opinion polls, and conduct detailed marketing research. It even offers you lots of pre-built survey templates and clever features that speed up the entire process.
The platform is extremely user-friendly and supports advanced survey logic, and all of its questions are worded in a way that eliminates any form of bias on the part of customers. Despite its numerous functionalities, the software leaves a lot of room for the personalization of surveys.
Features
One of the benefits of SurveyMonkey is that you can also create surveys from scratch, despite the presence of pre-established templates. With over a dozen question types ranging from MCQs to assessment scales and more, you're sure to find what you need here.
Below is a list of the core features SurveyMonkey provides:
- Ability to create quick surveys
- Fully optimized for mobile users
- Over a dozen types of pre-established questions
- Easy integration with other software
- Advanced reporting features
- Over 200 customizable survey templates
- Selection of questions by AI
- Support for advanced logic functions
- Automatic quiz scoring and gradation
- Easy to use interface
Pricing
When it comes to pricing, SurveyMonkey provides customers with enough flexibility. The basic plan is completely free, and you can use it with reasonable limitations. If you are a professional or a team leader who wants to grow, you can always opt for one of the paid plans.
Here is a list of the paid plans offered by SurveyMonkey:
- Standard monthly plan at $99/month
- Advantage plan at $32/month
- $99/month Premier Plan
- Team Advantage Plan at $39/user/month
- Team Premier Plan at $75/user/month
All plans are billed annually. In addition to the plans above, SurveyMonkey offers discounts for students and educators. They also offer business plans at custom rates.
3. Google Trends: Best for keyword research
Google Trends is a keyword research tool offered by Google that you can use to make your content more search engine friendly. This tool provides SEOs and marketers with a detailed overview of the research conducted by Internet users around the world.
The difference between Google Trends and other keyword research tools is that it shows relative search volumes. Relative search volume results allow you to understand how a particular search term behaves compared to other comparable terms.
With Google Trends, you can get detailed information on the most popular search topics. You can segment results based on region, time, and even the type of search network. It is the ideal tool for checking seasonal keyword trends.
Features
You can use this tool to assess spikes or drops in search volume triggered by specific events, as well as to conduct comparative keyword research. This data can be used in a wide variety of marketing campaigns, from SEO to content marketing to paid search.
With Google Trends, you have access to the following features:
- Comparative keyword research
- Coverage of multiple networks and search types, such as image search, YouTube search, and Google Shopping.
- Data segmentation based on temporal and geographic parameters
- Allows you to recognize market trends and areas that customers are highly interested in.
- Easy analysis of the competition
Pricing
Google Trends differs from other market research tools in that it is completely free to use. You don't need to take out a subscription to use it to its full potential. You can simply visit the website and start your research without even signing in to Google.
4. BrandMentions: Best for real-time social media research
BrandMentions is a dedicated, real-time search engine that focuses on social media mentions. This tool allows you to get information about what your current and potential customers are talking about online.
With BrandMentions, you can gain valuable information about social media activities on websites. Simply type in a search term, hashtag, or website URL, and you'll see all the mentions on social media for that particular brand or product.
The unique benefit of this tool is that you can use it to get actionable information for a brand from multiple social media sites. Such an approach makes it easy for marketers and makes engaging in social media conversations a real-time experience.
Features
Tracking mentions on social media is one of the essential tools for brand success. BrandMentions helps you do that by giving you a better understanding of how customers interact with your brand.
Here is a list of the top features that make BrandMentions useful:
- Real-time brand monitoring
- Detailed competitive analysis
- Online reputation management
- Covers all popular social media platforms
- Help find the right influencers
- Sentiment, keyword, and hashtag analysis function
Pricing
BrandMentions is a free tool, and you can use it without any form of subscription. However, the results you'll get will be limited; if you're looking for detailed social media analysis, you can sign up for a paid subscription to BrandMentions, its parent platform.
Here is the breakdown of BrandMentions paid plans:
- Growing business plan at $99/month
- Business plan at $299/month
- Business/Agency Plan at $499/month
5. Qualtrics: Best for AI-based experience management
Qualtrics is an AI-based experience management platform that helps over 11,000 brands around the world manage customer experiences. By using this tool, you can conduct high-quality market research at a rapid pace.
Qualtrics meets all of your customer experience management needs from one place. Whether it's market segmentation, competitive benchmarking, or collecting customer feedback on new services and products, Qualtrics helps you do all of that and more.
With this platform, you can get detailed information on all aspects of market research. It uses advanced statistical methods to uncover details about your target audience. And you get all of that in a fraction of the time it takes to do the same thing with traditional methods.
Features
When it comes to features, Qualtrics ranks among the best market research tools. Whether you're looking to develop a marketing strategy or understand buying behaviors, this is the platform to use.
Here is a list of the main features offered by Qualtrics:
- Market trend analysis
- Joint analysis to optimize the customer experience
- A/B testing for effective change management
- Online panel management
- Extensive advertising testing on key customer segments
- Fully optimized for all screen sizes
- On-demand access to millions of respondents
- Brand tracking on online channels
- Academic Research Options
Pricing
Qualtrics doesn't publicly show its pricing plans for everyone. However, you can request a demo on the official website.
6. Statista: Best for statistical data analysis
Anyone who has ever researched online knows Statista. It is an online statistical data analysis portal that brings together market data from over 600 industries. The service is present in over 50 countries, which means you get a global perspective on data.
The interface for using the tool is relatively simple. You go to the site, type in the topic or keyword you want to get statistics for, and the tool does the rest. All data is presented in blue graphs that are easy to understand.
Here you can get market research data to create buyer personas, develop online questionnaires, and even for content marketing purposes. In short, if you're a marketer looking for reliable, research-based statistics, Statista is the platform to go for.
Features
In terms of features, Statista has a no-frills approach. It provides users with a clutter-free interface and the result graphs are simple to understand. You also have a plethora of reporting tools at your disposal.
Here is a list of some of the other essential features that Statista offers:
- Detailed statistics on several sectors of activity
- Digital trend reports for major brands and businesses
- Downloadable data in multiple formats
- Related data and statistics
- Foresight marketing tools
- Infographics
- Global surveys
Rates
Statista's pricing plans are spread over three levels, the first of which is completely free. With the free plan, you have access to basic statistics, and you can even download charts in PDF or PNG format.
For unlimited statistics and advanced features, subscribe to one of the paid plans:
- Single account plan at $39/month, billed annually.
- Project account for business solutions at $1950/30 days
- Business account at $700/month
- Business account at a personalized price
- Campus license at a personalized price
7. Tableau: Best for visual data analysis
Table is a visual data analytics platform that helps startups and established businesses make sense of complex data in a simplified manner. With it, businesses can easily analyze critical data elements and derive critical insights from them.
The tool allows you to collect and collate data from multiple sources such as Excel sheets, relational databases, and Google Analytics. You can then combine this data to create collective data sets that provide a more consistent picture of the market.
You can use Tableau to segment and analyze data based on a variety of criteria such as geography, demographics, and more. You can also create interactive visualizations to share with your target audience.
Features
Tableau uses a simple drag-and-drop interface to create reports and visualizations and requires little or no coding knowledge. It exists in several versions, such as Desktop, Server, and Online, and is also available on mobile.
Below is a list of the main features that Tableau offers:
- Data collection and collation without programming
- Easy transition between live data and extracted data
- Secure sharing and collaboration
- Fully optimized for mobile
- Easy integration of dashboards into applications such as SharePoint and Salesforce.
- Unlimited number of data connectors (on-premises and in the cloud)
- Multiple levels of analysis granularity
- Dedicated customer service
Pricing
One of the interesting aspects of this software is that it does not provide prices for its products. Instead, Tableau pricing is based on user needs, and each plan includes all the critical features you need, from product upgrades to maintenance.
Tableau pricing plans are divided into the following levels:
- Tableau Creator at $70/user/month
- Tableau Explorer at $35/user/month
- Tableau Viewer at $12/user/month
Tableau also offers data and server management add-ons at $5.50 and $3.00 per user per month. For Enterprise level plans, you'll need to contact the department for more details. All plans are billed annually.
What is market research?
Market research is a thorough analysis of your target market that you need to do before launching a product or business. Inadequate market research is one of top reasons why new businesses don't succeed to impose themselves.
If you don't have an appropriate study to back up your products or services, you may make mistakes in creating an appropriate marketing strategy. Market research can be based on a number of factors such as census data, research reports, and data collected online.
Summary
Whether you're a small business or a research firm trying to establish patterns of customer behavior, market research tools can be your greatest asset. These software take the hassle out of the process and allow you to get the job done efficiently.
If you want to conduct in-depth market research for your business, opt for a combination of the tools mentioned here:
- Typeform: The best solution for creating feedback forms
- SurveyMonkey: The best solution for creating in-depth online surveys
- Google Trends: The best solution for keyword research
- BrandMentions: The best for real-time social media research
- Qualtrics: The best for AI-based experience management
- Statista: The best for statistical data analysis
- Tableau: Best for visual data analysis
Choose from the options above and start your market research.
