Consumer Research Software

Growing your customer base previously involved frequent phone calls to develop relationships and understand your customer’s needs. It also involved scheduling in-home visits to pitch products in person in a customer’s home, over a meal or refreshments. Modern technology makes such time-consuming marketing pomp and circumstance obsolete. Tracking online browsing and spending habits of customers and visitors to your website is quick and convenient for most businesses in 2021. This is not surprising considering how U.S. consumers spend more than six hours each day using online media.

The importance of top consumer market software is not something capable of being ignored by someone running a modern business. From concept to shipping, consumer market software helps your business have the biggest chance of understanding its customers and therefore the biggest chance of success. How does the top market software help aid with data analysis? What is the difference between qualitative and quantitative insight? What top companies offer free software trials and the best prices? Read ahead for an informative guide on top consumer market software and gain the qualitative insights you need improve your profits today. 

How Modern Technology Helps You Better Understand Your Customers

The face-to-face customer service and sales approach as conducted in the not so distant past had many positive qualities. Results were often successful in part because customers knew who was selling them products. There was a degree of comfort and element of trust established. How does technology help you better understand your customers and establish this type of relationship in the modern world?

Customer service will increasingly and profoundly drive company success in as few as the next five years. The true winners in the competitive marketing realm will provide the best customer service. Modern technology helps facilitate this type of success by providing multiple channels of digitally unified customer service paths such as company websites, social media, ecommerce, external review sites and more. The use of chat windows helps provide instant customer service as well. Faster service and more options to receive it are two things modern customers demand in order to do business with a company. Multiple social media accounts will provide access to a single centralized help desk. Finally, data will drive customer service protocols for the foreseeable future. Proper customer data will include qualitative insights designed to help understand your customers and increase sales and traffic to your business. 

Difference Between Qualitative & Quantitative Insight

There are two primary types of market data being collected today. Qualitative and quantitative data each provide different albeit important types of insights and information about your customers. This information is used to grow your business in a way best suited to serve your customers’ needs.

Quantitative data research uses surveys, quizzes, questionnaires and other similar forms to structurally gather personal facts and information from your customers. It also collects statistics as well as customer opinions. The entirety of this information is most effective when collected across a significantly wide and diverse net of customer demographics. Quantitative data is then used to create a marketing plan of action based on generalized and quantified cumulative results.

The approach to gathering qualitative data is more organic. The goal is to gain deeper insights pursuant to reasons why your customers make their purchasing decisions. It is also used to build relationships with your customers by directly asking them what they think (and why) about your products, service and online presence. This is done using focus groups and shop-along behavioral observations. Some customers are asked to journal their experiences with your products and company. Some marketing representatives attend actual customer home events such as parties and book clubs. This insertion into the real lives of your customers, whether digitally or in-person is the driving force behind qualitative data research. How is qualitative data analyzed to get your company the results it is looking for? 

How Does Consumer Market Software Analyze Your Customer Data?

The qualitative data collected on your customers is analyzed by using a combination of several observational and technology-based processes. The first step is to observe the presence of repeated key themes used by your customer base. These key themes, or key words, vary depending on what products and services are offered by your business. A food business will notice key words related to taste, ingredients, freshness, et cetera. A clothing business will observe key words about whether or not the size was correct and the clothing article fit as expected. It will also notice key words about quality, accuracy of color and shipping time.

When qualitative data is generated from focus groups the key words/phrases are answers to direct questions asked of your customers from the person or persons running the group. All research data and customer responses are then coded into an organized format using a spreadsheet or other type of word processing/organizational software. Once coded the key words are entered into a word cloud. The word cloud further analyzes the data and indicates the key words/phrases most prominently used by your customers.

Top Consumer Marketing Software Companies for 2021

There are countless consumer marketing companies selling products in 2021. Some rise to the top of the list for superior quality, service and results. The top consumer marketing companies for 2021 include:

• Qualtrics XM: (pricing by request only; demo available also by request)

• SEMrush: ($119.95/mo for Pro plan; $229.95/mo for Guru plan; $449.95/mo for Business plan; free trials available for Pro & Guru plans)

• SurveyMonkey: (Free Basic Plan; Paid plans pricing from $25-$99/mo; Enterprise plan by direct quote only)

• Quirkos: (Static office licenses starting $575; Monthly subscriptions at $25; free trials available)

• NumberAnalytics: (Basic $3/mo; Advanced $30/mo; Premium $300/mo; 14-day free trial)