“Do I really need to use market research?” Well, do you want to grow? Change? Improve? Then you want to use market research. All businesses rely on market research nowadays to find out what their customers want and what they are looking for from your business. Consumer information is the biggest factor businesses must consider to be successful. From surveys to census data, there are tons of different marketing research resources you can use. I’ve compiled the top 9 online tools, most of which are free!

1)   Typeform: Think easy, simple, user-friendly survey. Typeform prides itself on using real people to answer questionnaires that you create.

 

 

2)   SurveyMonkey: Another website to create surveys, SurveyMonkey is one of the most popular tools online right now. You can make detailed surveys to gather information from your audience.

 

3)   American Fact Finder: This tool is used to examine U.S. census data. You can easily filter through demographics like age and gender using American Fact Finder.

 

 

4)   Nielsen’s MyBestSegments: MyBestSegments sorts a specific area’s demographics and lifestyle preferences to provide researchers with an accurate picture of what markets and products would work best in the area.

 

 

5)   Google Keyword Planner: This is an AdWords tool that traces keywords to determine demand by geographical area. Google Keyword Planner tells you where the demand is and what will work best in that area, making it super easy to make marketing decisions.

 

6)   Personapp: The Personapp gives you an outline of your target market. This is helpful for identifying customer’s different lifestyles, demographics, and needs and wants for clients.

 

7)   Wolfram Alpha Facebook report : Wolfram Alpha puts together a report using data from your own Facebook page, updates, and your connections. This tool is especially useful because you can gain lots of insights from your Facebook friends.

8)   Individual Conversations: The best way to get to know what a customer wants is to ask. It is amazing what you can find out by just having a conversation.

9)   Social Media: Social media is a goldmine for consumer information. By looking at what people like, don’t like, and talk about you can gain important insights to what you should be marketing toward.

It is extremely important to use market research for your business. By using these tools appropriately, your business can thrive and your customers will be as happy as ever!