What is Market Research & How to Attract More Customers to Your Website

Last Updated: December 16, 2021

Having a website means putting in the work to attract more clients online and market research can help to increase your sales. Check out the guide to find how does market research work, how it can increase your traffic and more, shares Emily Andrews, marketing communications specialist, RecordsFinder.

Having a website means putting in the work to attract more clients online and market research can help to increase our sales.

Gone are the days where you buy a domain, create a simple static website, and hope people will flock to your store. Old school doesn’t cut it anymore, especially in today’s ever-shifting online marketing landscape.

So, what can you do to turn your website into a juggernaut that clients won’t be able to resist?

We got two words for you: market research.

Before we go into the details of how market research can help your website, let’s first take a brief look at what it is.

What is Market Research?

Market research is vital to the development and longevity of a company. According to InvestopediaOpens a new window :

“Market research is the process of determining the viability of a new service or product through research conducted directly with potential customers.”

The three most essential roles in market research:

  • Market research plays a crucial role in helping businesses understand what consumers want.
  • The process allows companies to develop products that those consumers will use.
  • Market Research aids organizations in maintaining a competitive edge over rival businesses.
     

The process studies the target market’s interest in the company’s products and services. The research involves feedback and opinion from consumers, which can be done in-house or by a third-party. It’s usually done via product testing, focus groups, and surveys.

How Does Market Research Work?

Market research is a combination of two information streams: primary and secondary.

Primary information consists of data points gathered by the company or someone they hired directly. This type of information has two categories: specific and exploratory research.

Secondary information consists of data points gathered by an outside source or entity. These may include public data, labor statistics, census data, or other public documents. The use of public records on marketingOpens a new window can help to increase sales, understand your clients behavior and needs.

The use of both information streams as a source of credible and actionable data is critical. This information helps companies make decisions on what direction to take and what products to offer.

How can Market Research Increase Website Traffic?

You may be thinking what can market research can do to attract more visitors to your site. According to Hubspot, the six main principles of how to do market research are:

1. Define your buyer persona.

2. Identify a portion of that persona to engage.

3. Engage your market research participants.

4. Prepare your research questions.

5. List your primary competitors.

6. Summarize your findings.

Chances are, you’re already doing at least three of the things on this list. “Defining buyer persona” is just knowing their age, gender, location, income, etc. which you might be doing already. The next steps are choosing who to survey and engaging those who either made a purchase, didn’t buy or other potential customers.

Market Research at Work: 5 Tips to Attract More Customers

Use the following tools to gather market information that can give you an edge online.

1. Use Keyword Search

Keywords help potential customers find you online and affect how search engines rank your website. It’s important to know what are the top keywords people use to find products and services in your niche. Other factors include how much interest these keywords generate and how many competing companies in the market are using it.  Use a keyword research tool or service that will let you search for prominent keywords you can use on your site.

2. Study Your Competition

Market Research is more than knowing your customers. You also need to know who the competition is and know them well. You don’t need to imitate or steal ideas from your competitors (although that happens a lot). But you need to know what they’re up to and what the industry is doing as a whole.

3. Always Read Blogs

Don’t neglect reading blogs that talk about products or services in your industry. Blogs content moves faster and gets updated more than regular websites. You can also expect that anything written on an excellent blog is fresh and stays relevant for a while. The informal nature of blogs and the conversations topics elicit can give your valuable insight into what people want and need. Use blog-specific search engines to discover blogs that cover your niche.

4. Conduct Rewarding Online Surveys

Online surveys are a great way to gauge what people think about your brand. It’s an affordable way to research if an idea will capture the imagination of consumers. Make your surveys short. 25 questions are more than enough to capture the response you need. Avoid open-ended questions.

5. Check out Competitor Links

Competitor link analysis is a link building technique that reveals the links that are helping your rivals rank higher. The process involves observing your competition, understanding their link building strategy, and applying it to get their links. There are many paid link analysis tools you can use online.  Examples are Ahrefs and Semrush.

Emily Andrews
Emily Andrews

Marketing Specialist, Community Contributor

Emily Andrews is the marketing communications specialist at RecordsFinder, an online public records search company. Communications specialist by day and community volunteer at night, she believes in compassion and defending the defenseless. Emily is a content marketing. She has a big portfolio of writing and working with a lot of high authoritative blogs. Emily has written for LegalReader, takes part in opinion contribution on Reader's Digest and co-created a book about law and public records. n addition to being a Marketing Guru, Emily loves to travel and explore the world from different angles.   
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