Do-it-yourself (DIY) market research has emerged as the preferred method for obtaining valuable information without going over budget for companies of all sizes. Today's strongest tools and platforms enable non-experts to find important information that informs strategic choices.
In contrast to full-service research projects, DIY research tools can yield quick results at a relatively low cost. However, do they meet your research needs the best?
In this blog, we listed some do-it-yourself market research resources that can produce incredible outcomes.
Resources & Tools for DIY Market Research
Google Forms
Google Forms helps you make well-informed business decisions fast and effectively thanks to its user-friendliness, strong data integration, real-time response collection and analysis capabilities.
If you are gaining customer feedback, satisfaction online surveys and quick polls on products or services, Google Forms can help you. In this way, you can quickly learn about your target market’s preferences or stay on trends. You can also use logic branching to customize questions according to user answers to make the experience more individualized.
DIY surveys can be distributed via email, social media, and links on your website, where your target audience can easily access them. Using user feedback to adjust the survey's flow, you can create a personalized experience that collects more specific information. It ensures maximum engagement because it is mobile-friendly and available on all devices.
Google Sheets automatically synchronizes with the responses for real-time data collection and analysis. Charts and graphs can be made using the built-in tools, or data can be exported for more complex analysis.
For startups, small businesses, or individuals on a tight budget, Google Forms is the perfect tool because it is free. Additionally, it provides versatility for any type of research, including surveys focused on consumer feedback, market trends, brand perception, and product preference.
SurveyMonkey
With strong customization, advanced analytics, and ease of use, SurveyMonkey enables businesses to perform expert-caliber market research without needing specialized knowledge.
SurveyMonkey provides user-friendly drag-and-drop functionality and templates for various research requirements, such as market segmentation studies, product feedback forms, and customer satisfaction surveys.
Moreover, SurveyMonkey offers sophisticated customization options where you can use custom branding (colors, themes, and logos) when designing your surveys. It also supports multiple languages for a wide range of audiences and features branching and question logic to generate customized routes based on respondents' responses.
Regarding simple distribution methods, SurveyMonkey allows you to share surveys via email, social media, QR codes, and embedded website links to reach your target market.
With real-time response tracking and data visualizations like charts and graphs, SurveyMonkey provides actionable insights for your robust analytics and reporting. Additionally, you can use tools like Excel, Google Sheets, and CRM platforms to compare results from segmentation and crosstab analyses across various groups.
SurveyMonkey provides access to its global panel of respondents, known as the SurveyMonkey Audience, for focused research. Choose participants based on demographics, geography, and other factors for high-quality consumer insights.
Despite having a free version, SurveyMonkey's paid plans scale for businesses of all sizes by providing more advanced features like larger respondent pools, personalized branding, and sophisticated analytics.
Typeform
Typeform blends powerful features with an engaging design for gathering responses. Its capacity to customize surveys and integrate with other tools ensures a smooth and effective research process.
Because of Typeform's conversational format, surveys feel more like a natural interaction. Questions are given individually to maintain interest. Incorporating visuals to improve the survey experience, such as pictures, GIFs, or videos. Typeform also allows you to add your logo, brand colors, and distinctive design elements to surveys.
You can connect Typeform with popular tools like Google Sheets, Slack, and CRMs to streamline data collection and analysis. Moreover, you can also automate workflows with tools like Zapier for more efficiency.
Regarding rates, Typeform also offers a free version for basic purposes, and premium plans provide access to features like priority support for growing your research efforts, advanced logic, and unlimited responses.
AnswerThePublic
Through AnswerThePublic, the keywords, phrases, and questions people search for online can help you collect data that’s relevant and significant to your audience. It can help you understand your customers' wants, needs, and pain points as well as trends in the market.
By visualizing and analyzing data, AnswerThePublic helps companies address the concerns of particular audiences and develop content strategies driven by search engine optimization. You can stay competitive by matching the needs of your customers
AnswerThePublic can group consumers on frequently asked questions (such as "why," "how," or "what"), prepositions like "best for," "near me," or "vs.," as well as related comparisons and brand-specific searches, by examining their search behavior.
One of AnswerThePublic's unique features is that market researchers can examine searches conducted by rivals to find how people view them, what they like or don't like about them, and chances to set your brand apart.
While AnswerThePublic's paid plan offers more sophisticated features like unlimited searches and keyword trend tracking over time, the free version is excellent for smaller projects.
Hotjar
Hotjar can assist you in determining where users click, scroll, or hover on your website, which is one of its unique features. It determines which areas of your website attract the most attention. It also helps you identify areas where interactions are lacking, enabling you to understand user frustrations.
Real-time recording of user interactions with your website is another feature Hotjar offers. You can spot bottlenecks by observing how users move through your website. You may also find elements that are confusing or have usability problems.
Furthermore, by combining qualitative and quantitative data, market researchers can use Hotjar to evaluate website interactions. Adjust your website content and interface to suit the needs of your target audience better.
Hotjar assists you in figuring out why users quit or disengage, which can help you increase user engagement and retention. Finding areas of confusion or frustration is one situation where Hotjar may be helpful. Data-driven adjustments can eventually be made to extend users' stay on your website.
For small projects, Hotjar provides free plans; for more complex features, such as unlimited heatmaps and recordings, Hotjar offers premium plans. It is one of the most excellent tools available to new and existing companies.
Google Trends
You can use Google Trends for free. It is an online search tool that lets you see how frequently specific keywords or topics have been searched over a given time frame. Trend forecasting and competitive analysis are their ideal applications.
Multiple keywords can be entered, and results can be filtered by location, category, and search history with Google Trends. Consider search demand when selecting keywords for PPC and SEO campaigns. Along with each keyword, it displays web interest, the traffic source, and the reason for the interest (such as the press).
Additionally, Google Trends allows you to compare the search interests for various products or brands. This enables you to monitor trends and identify where your brand can perform better than its competitors. Google Trends also provides trending topics and related search queries. This way, you can determine what subjects and queries your audience is interested in.
Google Trends can give you up-to-date information on current trends to optimize your marketing campaigns to fit in with popular subjects, helping you produce timely, pertinent promotions is simple.
Market researchers can draw attention to rising queries and related searches. Find out what your audience is looking for in addition to your original question. Doing this lets you learn more about nearby markets or client issues.
Canva Whiteboards
Canva Whiteboards provide a cost-effective way for companies of all sizes to conduct significant research. It turns complicated study data into understandable, valuable visuals. Aside from this, it also produces eye-catching surveys and attention-grabbing presentations. Canva Whiteboard facilitates real-time teamwork and organization for quicker outcomes.
Create a market research strategy by including your target audience, methodologies, and data collection techniques. Working together with your team can also improve research plans in real-time.
Moreover, You can make charts, graphs, and infographics with Canva Whiteboards. By condensing complex data into easily comprehensible visuals, you can effectively communicate the main conclusions of your study to stakeholders.
Researchers can also use Canva Whiteboards to create customer journey maps. To better understand how customers engage with your business at each touchpoint, create a visual representation of the customer experience for a product or service. Canva Whiteboards can also pinpoint problems and areas that could be improved.
Statista
Statista is a DIY market research platform with easily accessible charts and insights that professionals worldwide rely on for its accuracy and reliability. Because it provides users access to a wealth of statistics, data, and insights from various industries, it is a valuable tool for market research. It cuts down on the time needed for manual data collection and analysis and covers a wide range of industries and geographical areas.
Researchers can learn more about your target industry's market size and performance with Statista. It assists you in comparing your company to industry norms by providing growth trends in e-commerce, technology, and healthcare sectors.
Based on forecasts of industry growth, Statista can be used to create strategies for new product lines. You can use Statista's data on consumer demands, emerging markets, and product demand to prioritize features or services that may appeal to your target audience.
Additionally, Statista enables you to share statistics or infographics with your audience via email campaigns or social media. You can add reliable data to presentations, whitepapers, and blogs in this way. Using insights supported by the industry also helps you position your company as a thought leader.
UserTesting
Data from UserTesting is actionable and ready for use right away. It allows market researchers to bring users access to a large panel. Additionally, with its customized plans for companies of all sizes, businesses can make data-driven decisions based on customer needs.
You can test your audience or quickly connect with participants from its diverse global panel to collect authentic feedback on your website, service, or product. Moreover, you can also test a new product prototype or website feature using UserTesting to find usability problems and make necessary corrections.
Another feature that UserTesting offers is the ability to test MVPs (Minimum Viable Products), wireframes, and mockups before launch. Before spending money on a full-scale production, you can validate ideas and concepts and spot possible design flaws early on.
You can also rely on UserTesting if you have any website, app, or product test competitors with actual users. It enables you to pinpoint areas in which rivals outperform you. Furthermore, you can learn more about how consumers view rival features and brands.
UserTesting makes professional-quality user testing affordable with its self-service plans. Your budget will determine how many tests you can run, and you can scale up as necessary.
HubSpot CRM
HubSpot CRM can be a powerful tool for DIY market research, especially for businesses looking to streamline their processes and gain valuable insights without needing specialized research tools. It enables market researchers to simplify the process of gathering and analyzing market data, resulting in a more efficient, impactful market research.
With advanced segmentation tools via Hubspot CRM, you can easily target specific groups for your research in accordance with your business goals. It becomes even more compelling for its automation capabilities, transforming traditional market research methods into a more refined, efficient, and data-driven approach.
Moreover, HubSpot CRM centralizes all customer data in one platform, providing instant access to key insights like engagement history, purchasing patterns, and website interactions. Whether you're refining your product or testing new marketing strategies, HubSpot CRM enables users to conduct smarter, more agile market research that leads to actionable insights.
It’s the ideal tool for businesses looking to gain a deeper understanding of their market without a complicated or expensive setup.
Quillit ai
Quillit is an AI tool developed by Civicom to streamline the development of qualitative market research report development. It provides comprehensive summaries and answers to specific questions, verbatim quotes with citations, and tailored responses using segmentation.
Quillit allows you to group responses according to custom tags, demographics, or sentiment. It also guarantees AI-generated insights supported by authentic transcript citations. Through Quillit, you can analyze your transcripts as it provides categorized insights from actual customer responses that are supported by citations..
When creating presentations for your stakeholders, raw market research data can be automatically organized into readable summaries. One of Quillit's most notable features is that it automates 80% of manual analysis work, saving you time.
Quillit produces organized, understandable, and valuable research results for small businesses, research firms, and large corporations.
Main Points
With DIY market research tools, you can conduct insightful market research at your own pace. Gaining insights that can transform your business with the correct tools and tactics is possible. These tools help you establish specific objectives from your research as a market researcher.
Additionally, you can use the integrated analytics tools to efficiently interpret data and continuously improve your tests or surveys for better outcomes.
Choose Civicom® Marketing Research Services For Your Next Market Research
Civicom® Marketing Research Services provides web-enabled qualitative research tools for market research. Our full-service solutions include online IDI and focus group facilitation, mobile research, online communities, respondent recruitment, an AI report writing tool, plus other tailor-made solutions for your research needs. Contact us to see how we can help you achieve project success.
Louise Principe • February 7, 2023
Dani Garan • November 21, 2022