Perhaps the most crucial question that one might ask is this. The most critical question is not ‘how to do this’. The critical question is why do we need it. Answer it right, you will get the right answers from the research also.

The only reason – let me repeat it – the only reason why research should be done in the context of marketing is to reduce risk. There are no other reasons for doing any market research. Anytime.

All that information which is going to be gathered should result in a better decision which in turn means reduced risk for the organisation. If at the end of the day you don’t know whether you have reduced risk, then you have wasted your money.

How does risk go down with Market Research? Because we add more information and hence the uncertainty goes down. If we know that about 150 to 200 people prefer product A compared to Product B, then we would rather launch product B. If about 300 people tell us that an advertising is great compared to another ad, then we can go with the first ad. That is how market research reduces risk.