Data provider companies have now become substantial parts of market research teams, they are the ones who cover all the needs for fresh and insightful data. Let’s take a closer look at company data providers, how to find your ideal provider and ways that their data can change your marker research.

Who are company data providers?

Using data in market research sounds all great until the drawback of data collection arises. In fact, in research conducted by Gartner, poor data quality is the primary reason for 40% of all business initiatives failing to achieve their targeted benefits. As a result, new players entered the market to assist companies with data collection for their research.

Company data providers are an organization that supplies fresh, insightful, and constructed data for use of consumption by third parties. A data provider is responsible for collecting the freshest data, storing it, constantly updating it, and ensuring that it is accurate.

By using company data provider services, market research teams will save a lot of their time, which they can use to construct new marketing strategies. In the long run, they will be saving money, since their time will be worth more than paying for company data provider insights.

According to a recent study by Statista, the global market research industry is expected to reach $90 billion by 2025. This once again confirms the need to work with a company data provider, who has all the tools and knowledge to revise data quickly and provide it for your market research and strategy construction.

The main benefits of working with a company data provider

Aside from dealing with the marketing aspect of a company, many of these marketing managers are forced to spend most of their time searching for valuable data. In the meanwhile, the companies that work with data providers experience many benefits from ready-to-go datasets. Here is more information on the benefits of working with a company data provider:

Data availability

The first and foremost advantage of hiring a company data provider is definitely how easy you will be able to access data whenever you need it. Company employees won’t have to work overtime to explore and sort data for their market research, instead, they can access a centralized system where all data is sorted and updated.

Hiring additional employees to work with data collection isn’t a rational decision either, since the costs will equal the same as hiring a data provider. What’s more, is that company data providers have all the correct tools and licenses to collect data which is just another point to their system.

Data accuracy

When it comes to data nowadays, there is a ton of it, so much that you can simply get lost and go off track. In a market research business, there is no room for similar mistakes or inaccurate data points.

That’s why by choosing a reliable data provider who is certified at handling large batches of data, companies can be sure that they are using only accurate data and receiving the most insights they can possibly gather about the market.

Data entirety

The data you are using for your market research must be appropriate and contain all the details provided by a customer. The problem of collecting data on your own is that you can often find free datasets with information, but these datasets don’t provide it all, they can blur out phone numbers, addresses, etc.

Unfinished datasets can take a harmful toll on a business, which is why you should choose a company data provider to supply your datasets. They will always make sure all customer details are provided and appropriate.

Data security

Having all employees deal with data collection and putting it all into one database can become a threat to security. Even though data is a strong foundation for further research, it should be handled very fragilely and strictly.

By hiring a company data provider your data will stay secure between you and the provider. You can then further share certain parts of data on command to a limited set of employees and restrict their access whenever needed. Only in this way, you can ensure data security and prevent any data leakage.

How to select a reliable data provider?

Now that you have learned about the benefits of working with a company data provider, let’s take a look at three aspects you should know when choosing a reliable and high-standard data provider:

1. Coverage and freshness. Always justify what data collection aspects your provider will handle and how often they update their datasets. With access to the freshest data in your industry, you will be getting a huge business advantage.
2. Communication. A key moment to analyze when choosing a reliable company data provider is their feedback and overall communication. It’s important that a provider can cater to your needs and understand your requests with a small explanation.
3. Accurate and secure. Now lastly before committing to a company data provider test whether the information they provide meets your business needs. You should also check their license for data collection and security systems.

The key ways data is changing market research

At its core, data can completely change the way you do business and your success results. Even studies have found that 92% of marketing professionals believe that data is essential to their success. An additional 78% of them say that data is driving their investment decisions. Here are a few ways that data contributes to market research and success:

Customer behavior and preferences

Using data market research companies can detect how customers behave with certain products and services, and this way they can highlight many of their preferences. Behavior trends across multiple channels are stored in databases within reach at all times.

Market patterns and trends

Even though having access to the newest data is important, past data can influence your market research. In older data, you can detect certain patterns and trends and use them to predict the future market.

Targeting and personalization

By combining market research with fresh data insights, marketers can create personalized and targeted campaigns for each customer base. This way they are increasing the chances of reaching the correct audience and making a successful sale.

Final thoughts

As we come to an end, we have set straight that data is the sole foundation of modern market research and success. For business convenience, time-saving, and security, they should hire company data providers who will quickly supply all the data needed to conduct market-changing research. Data providers have all the tools and knowledge to provide the best insights in the market.

The post The Role of Company Data Providers in Market Research appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The following is a guest contributed post by Wale Omiyale, SVP of Market Research at Confirmit

Market Research, like the rest of the global economy, is reinventing itself. End users are more demanding than ever; they need faster, cheaper and more strategic insights to drive business decisions – and they need it now. While Market Researchers have been focused for years on meeting this ever-growing demand, new technologies have emerged to automate activities and revolutionize the approach.

Automation and Market Research have a long intertwined history. Simpler forms, including questionnaire scanning, was created in direct response to the need for faster results and helped speed up the process of data capture. Modern automation tools have been developed with this same need in mind. The difference is that these tools now span the entire lifecycle of Market Research and bring a wealth of benefits – not just to end clients, but also to research organizations themselves.

Social Media Listening

With approximately two billion active social media accounts on a variety of platforms, it has become clear that a tremendous amount of social interaction is conducted digitally. Timelines on Twitter, Youtube and Facebook are digital documents of thoughts and experiences over time. They use algorithms to automate shares, tags, and tweets in what most people regard as a generally helpful way, serving up micro-moments so users can focus on enjoying and discussing what they find meaningful in those streams of thoughts, pictures and videos.

Considering the importance of a consumer’s socially shared opinions, it is imperative that businesses know what is being said about their brands across all social channels. Social listening can give brands the language that its customers use and brands can use this to match their campaigns to what customers want and need. This has been a key driver for developing automated analysis tools that provide a broader, more holistic research view into key social performance indicators (likes, follows, etc.), market sentiment, and also, your client’s competitive positioning. Business can now analyze unsolicited feedback without manually monitoring review sites, forums, discussion boards, and blogs.

Smartphone-Based Research

With an even greater penetration and more users than social media, mobile technology is a key area where Market Researchers should be looking to innovate their offerings. Studies have shown that users dedicate more mobile time to using applications than searching the mobile web. And, considering the conveniences that applications offer, it isn’t much of a surprise.

It should also come as no surprise that the overwhelming majority of mobile users have enabled location on their mobile phone to facilitate app function. The main benefit of location services is the ability to personalize their mobile experience by tailoring results or apps services to their location. Mobile location features not only drive user downloads due to added convenience, but Market Researchers can leverage a user’s location via a fully-branded panel app and their mobile phone’s GPS. With this technology, they can automatically deploy in-the-moment surveys. This powerful technique can be used for entrance and exit surveys to support customer research or competitive research, for example.

For situations where GPS location isn’t precise enough, beacon technology can be a great alternative. Beacons are small devices which leverage the panellist’s mobile Bluetooth and can be placed in strategic locations, for example, within a store. When a customer comes within a certain proximity of the beacon, a survey can be automatically triggered.

Self-Service Programs

Automation is driving organizations to deliver ‘self-serve’ research programs. This allows researchers to select the most appropriate tools for their project, choose the audience or sample, as well as the type of reporting they need to produce, all from a single source. Not only can this shorten timelines, but it can also simplify results sharing and analysis through easy-access dashboards.

However, this does not negate the need for in-depth research programs. Rather, it is a new layer that sits on top of substantial analysis and insight. What clients need now is quick insight, though sometimes they only want to focus on questions that get to the heart of their issue most quickly. With automation tools to support this way of working, they may still get 80 percent of the information they need in 25 percent of the time.

Developments in automation are taking us towards a hybrid model of research – where the needs of clients are met for whatever level of program they require – and can be delivered in the time-frames and formats most suited to each.

Fewer Tasks for Interviewers

With administrative tasks being capably handled by automation tools, researchers have seen a shift in their roles and daily tasks. Some may see this as a structural issue, but to the contrary, it frees up researchers and allows them to focus on high-value processes that differentiate their offerings.

In fact, many research teams are evolving into specialist hubs, where researchers become data scientists and reports become strategic business guidance. Automation is increasing the requirement for more broadly-skilled project managers, where in-depth subject knowledge is no longer required, but an understanding of the many automated steps of the research process is crucial. This certainly impacts the role of the research subject matter expert, but allows research organizations to be more flexible in recruitment and service delivery.

A New World of Insights and Consulting

We are increasingly seeing a new world play out in the market, with a number of traditional MR agencies no longer identifying themselves in the MR category and the push from certain sections of the industry to rebrand “Market Research” into “Insights”.

Automation is here to stay, whether we like it or not, as will the need to deliver results faster and more easily. While there is still much more opportunity for it to evolve, it’s clear that automation is already firmly entrenched in our day-to-day processes – and that’s a good thing. It enables Market Researchers to not only broaden their research but also improve their competitive positioning in this challenging marketplace.

About the Author

Wale Omiyale has over a decade’s experience in the Market Research industry and has a detailed understanding of the issues facing the industry as a result of maturation and technological advancement.

Wale works closely with some of the world’s leading Market Research agencies, helping them to implement innovative MR programmes using the most up-to-date data collection channels and practices available.

The post Automation and the New Frontiers of Market Research appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The following is a guest contributed post from Elly Watson of Pollfish.

Did you come up with a wonderful idea for an exciting product? Do you want to rapidly shift your company’s resources towards getting this new product to market? Perhaps you even hope to found a startup to introduce the public to your wonderful innovation. If you haven’t done any market research to test and tune your great ideas, acting too rapidly might be very risky behavior. To sustain your company, good ideas also have to be profitable ones.

Market research will ensure that you’ve really thought through your invention by considering what today’s consumers actually want or need. Why not learn more about your target market before you invest in production, packaging, and marketing? You can use information that you gain in every step of the process. If you plan to apply for financing, you’ll certainly need to build a business case for your new product. Your market research can help convince potential investors and lenders that you have a sound vision.

An Introduction to Market Research for Small Companies and Startups

Market research is not just something that large companies do. In fact, smaller companies and startups usually need to watch their cash flow very carefully. They can only afford to invest in truly desirable products that have the potential to maximize profits. In addition, internet and mobile technology have made all sorts of market research tools very accessible for smaller businesses. Your tiny company can access very sophisticated polling and analysis tools without spending a lot of money or time.

These are two kinds of market research to consider for new products:

Primary Research

You gather primary research right from people who are likely to become your customers. For example, you might create an online or mobile survey for customer insights into your target market’s needs, wants, and behavior. The tools you can use to create and publish surveys are simple and affordable for companies of all sizes. You can find out if your potential customers share your excitement and vision. This also gives you a chance to fine tune your idea to make sure you really deliver what consumers want to buy.

This information should not discourage you from moving forward; instead, it should encourage you because you know you’ll make progress with good information about how people are likely to react to your product in the real world. For instance, you might find that changing the size, color, or some other minor feature of your product will make it more desirable to the general public. This information can help you make your product better, and it might also spark ideas for marketing that product.

Secondary Research

Secondary research gives you insights into your target market or even the experiences that other companies have had with similar products. You can find all sorts of information about population demographics and other companies without spending much or even any money. This data might help you support your idea or send you back to the drawing board to reword it into something better.

What are some available, free sources of secondary research? You could start with the government, trade associations, and even your own town or city. Two good places to start include the U.S. Census Bureau and your local library. If you run a local business, data about the age and average income of your neighbors might help. Almost any kind of new or small business can benefit from information about potential competitors. Once you understand your market, you can start building your business case. When you learn about competitors, you can figure out what you can do better.

Getting Started With Market Research is Easier Than You Think

Instead of just asking your family, coworkers, or employees about your concept for a new product, why not poll people who are most likely to buy what you offer? To get started, you can create a mobile survey that will deliver the answers that you need. Even the smallest companies can now afford primary research and probably cannot afford to move on without it. Market research helps turn good ideas into profitable ones.

The post How to Conduct Market Research Before You Develop a Product appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

According to the findings and projections in “Wireless Charging Market (2012-2017) – Global Forecast and Analysis by Technology, Products & Applications,” this particular market is expected to reach $7.161 billion by 2017 at a CAGR of 57.46% from 2012 to 2017.

“Wireless charging products started being commercially available from 2010 and gained momentum in 2011,” the report reads. “Since this is a new technology, consumers are trying to compare the conventional wired chargers and Universal Serial Bus (USB) cords with wireless charging solutions.”

Wireless charging has its applications across the industrial as well as the consumer electronics sector. Most of all these applications are in the growth phase and have huge potential in the near future. The applications are measured on the basis of their adoption potential versus their market potential and significance.

MarketsandMarkets says that the consumer electronics market is the most attractive market to target, with very high market potential. The awareness among the consumers is now increasing with the advent of new products such as wireless charging pads, receivers, and smartphones with embedded receivers.

“Products such as smartphones, digital cameras, MP3 players, and others can be wirelessly charged by simply keeping them on the charging pad with a receiver,” the report reads.

The post Wireless Charging Market to See Energized Cash Flow by 2017 appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

If you think that’s impressive, just wait until 2016 when that figure is expected to double.

The universe of smart connected devices, including PCs, media tablets, and smartphones, saw shipments of more than 916 million units and revenues surpassing $489 billion dollars in 2011.

These numbers reflect the combined total from IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker, Mobile Phone Tracker, and Media Tablet Tracker, the company says.

“Whether it’s consumers looking for a phone that can tap into several robust ‘app’ ecosystems, businesses looking at deploying tablet devices into their environments, or educational institutions working to update their school’s computer labs, smart, connected, compute-capable devices are playing an increasingly important role in nearly every individual’s life,” says Bob O’Donnell, vice president, Clients and Displays at IDC.

In the short term, unit shipments for smart connected devices should top 1.1 billion worldwide in 2012. By 2016, IDC predicts shipments will reach 1.84 billion units, more than double the 2011 figure.

The post IDC Says One Billion Connected Devices Shipped Last Year appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Launched this month, the MMRA was founded with the mission of uniting and serving the industry by developing professional standards and ethics to advance the use of mobile devices for marketing research.  According to its press release, the MMRA says it’s an “action-oriented organization designed to establish mobile research guidelines and best practices for sustainable growth, develop research and advocate for issues that grow the industry, provide quality education and evangelize the mobile marketing research channel for use by clients, researchers and participants.”

Why does the industry need a trade organization dedicated to mobile marketing research?  First a little background on where the MMRA got its start.  There was a conference held last year in both Berlin and Atlanta, GA called “Market Research in the Mobile World,” which was organized by the Merlin Institute.  The event turned out to be relatively successful, with over 170 attendees at the Atlanta event alone.  Following the conference, Jasper Lim, founder of the Merlien Institute and Mark Michelson, a veteran in the marketing research industry, discussed how this so-called  “fast developing and complex industry” needs a unifying body, a single voice, and a place to exchange the best and most innovative of ideas.  In September 2011 they decided to work together to create the MMRA, which is making its formal debut this month.

As mobile marketing and advertising continues to gain unprecedented momentum, there’s a variety of issues stemming from what information and data is collected from mobile users, how it’s used and how the entire process should be regulated.  “Consumer privacy is a concept that research participants seem willing to sacrifice, at least in part, to receive valuable offers that are tailored towards their likes and interests,” explained the MMRA.  “Millions of consumers have already downloaded smartphone apps that use GPS to track their location so they can obtain discounts, coupons or cash incentives for answering a few questions about their experience when they are in specific stores. These apps are becoming more popular every day.”

Among other initiatives, the MMRA wants to design studies that take advantage of  new mobile technologies and changes in respondent behavior, explore ways to make sense of complex data and set guidelines for ethical use of personal information.  The MMRA said it will accomplish this through the “cooperative efforts of the best professionals in the industry who want to make research more meaningful for clients and enjoyable for participants.”

Launching just this month, the MMRA is putting a call out to relevant organizations to join its cause.  The first 300 member companies to join will have special certification recognizing their permanent status as a founding member.  “The business world recognizes innovators and leaders who get in on the ground floor; that kind of foresight is recognized, repeatedly and in so many ways,” said Michelson, who has founded and worked with other marketing research related trade associations in his career. “Founding Members stand out to their prospects, their peers and others key influencers in the business world.”

The post Mobile Marketing Research Association (MMRA) Debuts as New Global Trade Organization appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

While Google dominates desktop search, the mobile arena is still anyone’s game really.  Growth in mobile search is being driven by two standout trends, according to the research, which include voice-based and local search.  “While voice is becoming an important trend driving mobile search, language differences are likely to benefit local or first movers in different regions,” the research suggests.  “The development of voice recognition into a personal digital assistant offers new opportunities and is being integrated into platforms and devices.”

The mobile search market generated roughly $901M in revenues in 2010, equivalent to around 3% of total search revenues.  By 2015, when revenues are estimated to reach $8B, it will represent a CAGR of a whopping 55%.  In addition, the research suggests that mobile search makes up around a quarter of total mobile advertising revenue, with it expected to exceed 40% in 2015.  The full report is available here.

The post Mobile Search Revenues To Top $8B In 2015, Representing 11 Percent Of Total Search appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Offering free data on more than 200 markets across the U.S., Mobitrove tracks spending on a state-wide and hyperlocal level.  Need to know the total mobile ad spend for Glendive, Montana for example?  Mobitrove will tell you (it’s $1.5M in case you’re wondering).  The data even includes projections for mobile advertising through 2015.

The service also features research, polls, blogs and case studies designed to assist marketers, publishers and consultants in the mobile marketing industry.  Top-level local mobile marketing data is available for free to registered users, and additional data with charts and details on SMS, Email, Browser and App advertising expenditures are available for subscription fees ranging from $295 to $495 per year.

“We believe it’s vital to put real numbers against what’s happening in the mobile marketing arena,” said Sandy Martin, Director of Mobile Iniviatives and the principal developer of Mobitrove.   “It’s just too easy to get swept up by the hype or so confused that you start chasing something that’s not ‘there’ yet. We hope Mobitrove will help keep everyone grounded.”

The post Borrell Associates Debuts “Mobitrove” To Track Market-by-Market Mobile Advertising Spend appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

In addition to this more realistic outlook on where the mobile marketing industry is actually going, some new insight suggests that not only is the industry not growing as fast as almost everyone predicted, but that mobile marketing is shaping up to be all search.

The Kelsey Group, while still making over-enthusiastic projections regarding the mobile market, suggests that the mobile advertising market will balloon from $160 million in 2008 to $3.1 billion in 2013.  While this may sound like just another un-founded projection, the Kelsey Group goes on to suggest that mobile search will go from 24 percent of the total mobile ad market last year to 73 percent of the much larger pie in 2013- meaning other forms of mobile marketing such as SMS and display advertising is set to decline over the same time period.

Is this realistic?  I think so.  Display ads are projected to go from 13 percent of the total to 18 percent, while SMS ads will decline as a percentage from 63 percent to 9 percent.  While I agree SMS will go down slightly, I don’t think it will take such as sharp decline so quickly- there will always be a place for SMS in mobile advertising.

I think TechCrunch summarizes it the best: “display ads take up precious real estate on your phone screen and tend to just get in the way and be an annoyance. That’s why most people don’t like them.  But when you are doing a search on your phone, you are often looking for something nearby—a store, a restaurant, a dry cleaner. You are more open to ads, especially if they are relevant to your search.”

There’s a reason the big players, especially Google and Yahoo, are preparing themselves for mobile in big ways.  If mobile search is projected to balloon to 73% of a $3.1 billion market, you better believe Google and Yahoo will have their hands in it.  As Mark Mahaney, a Citi analyst with similar views to that of the Kelsey Group states, “given the nature of mobile devices, local queries on mobile should, over time, be greater than local queries on the desktop.”  Could mobile search, one day, be more profitable than desktop search?  Absolutely.

The post More Signs Point To Search Dominating Mobile Marketing appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.