You’re running a business. What are the top 10 market research tools you need to know about?

Qualtrics and Survey Monkey are great tools for survey - User friendly interface, multiple question types and handy features for routing and carry forward options etc.

I had a good experience with SurveyMonkey. Typeform and Google Forms also offer user-friendly interfaces. For those targeting mobile users, Pollfish and SurveySparrow are a good way to engage.

After you've found a good survey tool, you need to find a good sample source. Sample marketplaces like PureSpectrum help you connect to dozens of sample providers at a reasonable price and without the headache of managing multiple vendor relationships.

I rate Qualtrics as the best for sophisticated surveys. Not a fan of apps like Pollfish as these surveys are completed way too quickly. SurveyMonkey is good, but the margin of error for some studies can be extremely high.

Google Trends: Provides insights into search trends and patterns. SurveyMonkey: Allows for easy creation and distribution of surveys to gather customer feedback. Ahrefs: Helps analyze competitors' website traffic, keywords, and backlinks. Qualtrics: Offers advanced survey and research capabilities for in-depth customer insights. Statista: Provides access to statistics and market data across various industries. BuzzSumo: Helps identify popular content and trends in your industry.

Examples: Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics Use: Track and analyze website traffic and user behavior to understand how customers interact with your online presence.

While analytics tools such as Google Analytics offer insightful data, I have discovered that they frequently overlook the subtle, qualitative feedback necessary for a thorough understanding of customers. Customer needs and preferences are frequently better understood through surveys and in-person interactions than through data alone.

In my previous role as a digital marketer, I heavily relied on analytics tools to enhance our online presence and optimize various aspects of our strategy. Google Analytics was a staple in our toolkit, providing detailed insights into website traffic, user behavior, and conversion paths.

Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics are usefull tools. Nevertheless, sometimes we download the data from these tools to analyze with statistical software

1. Industry context and trendwatching: TechCrunch, FastCompany, and simply googling and reading. 2. Investor/startup scene: Crunchbase 3. SEO: Google Analytics and Keyword tool 4. Competitor analysis (user acquisition): SimilarWeb, Data.ai 5. Top experts in your industry (blogs, YouTube) 6. Conferences and news from them 7. Economics and finance: Yahoo Finance is best for free financials, Bloomberg for paid 8. Social media trends and hashtag popularity 9. Cultural trends, like movies, fashion 10. Last, but not least: TALK to your users, and team!

Examples: Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, Ahrefs Use: Identify popular search terms related to your business or industry, helping to optimize your content for SEO and understand market trends.

Identifica las palabras clave que tu audiencia objetivo realmente utiliza para buscar los productos o servicios que ofreces. He tenido experiencias con empresas que utilizan palabras clave que ellos creen que los clientes usan, sin embargo, cuando efectúas una investigación de palabras clave, descubres que no es así. No supongas, investiga.

SEMrush: Offers comprehensive data on SEO, paid search, social media, and content marketing, allowing you to monitor your competitors and improve your online visibility.

In my experience as a content creator and SEO strategist, leveraging tools like Google Keyword Planner, Moz Keyword Explorer, and SEMrush has been instrumental in understanding user search behavior and tailoring content to meet their needs. For instance, when working on a blog post or webpage, using these keyword tools helped me identify high-relevance keywords within my niche. By strategically incorporating these keywords into the content and meta tags, I aimed to improve the page's search engine visibility and attract a more targeted audience.

Overreliance on keyword tools like Google Keyword Planner, Moz Keyword Explorer, and SEMrush may inadvertently prioritize algorithmic relevance over authentic content. Singular focus on popular keywords risks diluting unique brand voices, reducing content to formulaic SEO strategies. The danger lies in creating content solely for search engines, disregarding the human element. Genuine engagement transcends algorithmic dictation. Striking a balance between SEO optimization and authentic, user-centric content ensures visibility without sacrificing the essence of meaningful online communication. A nuanced approach acknowledges the symbiosis of SEO strategies and maintaining a brand's unique narrative.

Me he topado con clientes que no utilizan herramientas de escucha social porque consideran que son un gasto innecesario. ¡Grave error! La realidad es que las redes sociales nunca comparten con nosotros todo lo que saben, por ello, es indispensable utilizar al menos una de estas herramientas de paga si queremos hacer marketing digital en serio.

Examples: Hootsuite, Brandwatch, Sprout Social Use: Monitor mentions of your brand, competitors, and industry across social media platforms to gauge public sentiment and identify emerging trends.

Social listening tools primarily analyses what consumers communicate, share with respect to a particular brand. Their thoughts, views, experience and feedback on the same is captured and analyzed to get insights. There are various social listening tools like Hootsuite, Sprout Social, BandSumo, Keyhole that captures these details and and tries to analyse any common pattern, trend that comes out from the information shared by the consumers and with that they try to predict/ draw certain conclusions that would help in forming strategies by the brand

The fervor around social listening tools often obscures their limitations. While Hootsuite and Sprout Social offer real-time insights, they risk creating a tunnel-vision effect. An overreliance on these tools may lead to a reactive rather than a proactive social media strategy. Blind trust in analytics undermines the human touch required for nuanced engagement. A more balanced approach involves treating these tools as supplements, not substitutes, for genuine audience understanding. Successful social listening demands more than constant monitoring; it necessitates a holistic comprehension of human behavior, integrating analytics with the art of authentic, lasting brand storytelling.

1. Hootsuite: Manages social media accounts and monitors brand mentions. 2. Brandwatch: Analyzes social conversations for brand insights and sentiment. 3. Sprout Social: Monitors social mentions, manages engagement, and provides analytics. 4. Talkwalker: Tracks social media, news, and online conversations for brand monitoring. 5. Mention: Monitors brand mentions across social media and the web. 6. Buffer: Schedules posts and analyzes social media performance. 7. Zoho Social: Social media management tool with monitoring capabilities. 8. Awario: Tracks brand mentions, analyzes sentiment, and identifies influencers.

Son de gran ayuda estas herramientas, pues nos facilitan seguirle la pista a nuestra competencia. Sin embargo, te aconsejo no obsesionarte demasiado con lo que hace la competencia, ya que puedes desenfocarte y eso te llevará a cometer errores. Respeta tu propio proceso de crecimiento de tu marca, es decir, si estás comenzando, no pretendas pisarle los talones a marcas que ya tienen años en tu sector. Crecer en el mundo digital es una meta a largo plazo. Desesperarte es lo peor que puedes hacer.

Examples: Compete, SimilarWeb, Alexa Use: Gain insights into your competitors' online strategies, website traffic, and customer engagement to benchmark your performance and identify opportunities.

I think that depends on the metric that you would like to analyze: Semrush for metrics related to SEO strategy, SimilarWeb for analyzing the digital context. Adjiin to analyze the advertising investment for a digital strategy

On this one, I think brainpower and knowledge of CI techniques are your best tools. I don’t think of any software as top of mind for CI work overall (although some tools like text analytics would aid). To me, CI work is about identifying ways to compare and contrast players with similar missions or business intent. To do that there are various approaches and thinking exercises like SWOT, Porter’s Forces, Blue Ocean and the method du jour (which might be something you smartly cook up yourself).

Competitive analysis tools help businesses understand their competitors' strategies, strengths, and weaknesses. Some top tools include SEMrush, SpyFu, Ahrefs, SimilarWeb, Moz's Link Explorer, and BuzzSumo.

I am a huge proponent of SugarCRM. Their organization of audiences is second to none. I would advise reviewing their offerings.

Además de sus funciones básicas, como la organización y el análisis de datos de clientes, estas herramientas ofrecen una ventaja única: la personalización de la comunicación y el seguimiento detallado del ciclo de vida del cliente. No basta con tener un CRM, necesitas entenderlo, llenarlo, analizarlo y utilizarlo correctamente, explotando todo su potencial. Capacita a tu personal responsable de forma constante.

CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tools are essential for managing interactions with customers and potential customers. Some top CRM tools include Salesforce, HubSpot CRM, Zoho CRM, Pipedrive, Microsoft Dynamics 365, and Freshsales.

My favorite tool for user experience testing (which includes generating heatmaps and many other things) is Loop 11. Intuitive, user-friendly, and will provide full usability testing.

When selecting an AI heatmap tool for market research, consider factors such as the ease of integration, the depth of insights provided, and the specific needs of your research. FullStory has an AI feature which offers session replay, heatmaps, and analytics for digital experiences. It helps in identifying user pain points and optimizing user journeys.

Use the platform TestingTime to connect your (un-)moderated studies to real users without having to slow down in your process.

The online focus group tools listed here are all good. I would recommend an of them. I do caution against options like "google meets" as those are not completely private.

This is something that my business partner and I shopped around a bit for and I have found pluses and minuses for each. And these change by if it is a focus group or an IDI; chat or live. In the end we use Recollective because of their price, recording, transcripts and backroom functions. However, we do B2B research, so we often have clients in the back room. We found that many could not access recollective because of their (clients and participants) IT security. This looked very bad and Recollective was like tell the company to remove the security, like that can happen. Always have a simple back up available that record and does transcripts, like WebEx. In fact, that worked better for us in the end and was considerably cheaper.

Excessive reliance on online community tools risks creating an echo chamber, stifling diverse perspectives. The danger lies in assuming that constant interaction guarantees authentic customer insights. Blind trust in platforms like Discourse may inadvertently lead to a curated environment, limiting the spontaneity crucial for genuine engagement. A balanced approach involves leveraging these tools while acknowledging the need for a diverse feedback ecosystem. Rather than perpetuating a controlled online environment, successful use of community tools ensures an inclusive space that fosters both positive interaction and unfiltered, genuine customer feedback.

The "top 10" is subjective, and the best tools for you will depend on your specific industry, research goals, and budget. Consider exploring free trials and comparing features before committing to a paid tool. However, here are a few : Google trends, Statista, Survey Monkey/Qualtrics, Tableau/PBI, Brandwatch.

There are countless tools for market researchers to use for their business. I do advise hiring a consultant that can outline your options and recommend which ones to utilize. Deciding which options to use is not something many researchers and business owners have time to do - a consultant can save countless hours.

The ICG is a great resource for SME's/ startups - a directory of senior, independent researchers who are often more flexible (and less expensive) than larger agencies.

Tools first shouldn't be how a business owner is approaching their market research planning and decision making needs. You can run creative, and accurate research projects with a notepad and a recording device (don't - but you could!) What's important is to find the patterns in your decision making, and the problems that you're being pressured to solve without enough understanding of your customers. Spending time and effort on understanding market research methodologies, how to connect a methodology to a problem, and general principals and rules around data, will be way more helpful to you. And then you can choose the tools more easily and with a strategic eye for what you need.

With an online survey tool, always do your shopping. These tools usually have year-long contracts, so be sure you like it, because you will be stuck with it. Also consider where your sample is coming from and do you need help from time-to-time. If you use Dynata for sampling and analytics, think about investing in their suite. Qualitative platforms are generally project based. Try one that seems good to you. If you don't like it, try something different next time. Also consider platform for honoraria, like tango card. They are pretty easy to manage.