Last Updated on September 6, 2024
Title Variations:
10 Best Market Research Tools and Software for a Successful Product Launch
10 Best Market Research Tools That Every Entrepreneur Should Know
Market research is critical to the success of any business venture.
It’s by conducting in-depth research that you’ll identify potential opportunities for growth as well as expected pitfalls with your new offerings. You can leverage the information collected from these studies to provide customer-centric services and keep ahead of the competition.
Extensive market research is also key when it comes to making informed and timely business decisions. Simply knowing that the peak tourist season is approaching will have airline companies, car rental companies, and hotels operating in the affected location adjusting their rates upwards.
Now, many people associate market research with budding firms. But that’s not entirely true. Even established brands need to conduct in-depth surveys before launching their products in new markets, especially those already dominated by rival companies.
Conducting proper market research used to be a time- and capital-intensive endeavor. Not anymore.
We now have plenty of software that perform deep market analytics at a fraction of the time and money you’d incur undertaking the process manually. This post looks at 10 such tools.
1. Google Trends
Pricing: Free
Google Trends deserves the first mention among all market research tools out there. First, because the software is a product of the same company that gave us the world’s most popular search engine. And secondly, because it’s 100% free to use.
As with most Google products, Trends is remarkably easy to use. Simply head to its official website to begin your market research. The homepage continuously displays trending topics. You can find what’s trending in your country or worldwide.
At the middle of the page is a search bar that displays the most trending topics and personalities worldwide, along with the specific countries where they’re popular. It’s here that you’ll need to key in the keywords relevant to your industry to uncover how those terms are faring on Google’s searches.
Google Trends’ search interest typically covers the past 24 hours. However, you can customize your searches to specific years. For instance, the software can reveal how many people have searched for “KFC” this year in a specific location, and how the keyword has performed over the years. The insights received can be invaluable if you’re looking to set up, say, a fast-food restaurant in the target location.
Trends provides many other features that make it a top market research software. You can use it to discover relevant long-tail keywords, track the growing popularity of certain topics, and identify seasonal trends. On a good day, the tool can process well over 100,000 searches every second and report in real-time.
2. Think With Google
Pricing: Free
Think With Google is another market research tool that promises to jumpstart your product launch so you can seize control of new markets. The software is far less popular than Trends. Interestingly, it’s very effective when looking for more than simply what’s trending in your location or industry.
Think With Google takes a tri-dimensional approach to market research. First, the tool provides key insights on whether your keywords are currently trending. You’ll get real-time feedback on consumer search behavior, pretty much the same service as Trends.
Secondly, this software comes with a Market Finder functionality that suggests the most lucrative markets to launch your products in. And lastly, there is a Rising Retail Categories feature that clues you in on how certain seasonal changes might affect your product’s performance.
In addition to the three main features, there’s also a Find My Audience tool that you can use to promote your new offerings on YouTube. The software trawls YouTube to find out what your potential viewers are already interested in. That way, you can have a head start when you finally launch your products on the video-sharing platform.
Think With Google’s homepage is customized for each location. And this isn’t just for the optics. Using a web version designed for your region allows you to access regional trends with ease.
3. Page Insights by Meta
Pricing: Free
Full disclosure – Page Insights by Meta is only limited to your Facebook pages. That might sound like a huge drawback until you realize that Facebook is still the most popular social networking platform, currently boasting over 2.96 billion active monthly users. So, the opportunities for growth are virtually limitless for companies with a social media presence.
Meta’s Page Insights allows you to identify your audience’s pain points and then create content that appeals to those needs. Using the tool, you can know the posts that your audience mostly engages with and make strategic business decisions.
Not only does Page Insights help you track your page’s likes. It also provides tons of other insightful metrics on the demographics most drawn to your content.
For instance, the software will tell you where most of your following comes from. You’ll know how many people saw your post and how many engaged with it. Most importantly, the tool will highlight the nature of those engagements while giving your page a total score in terms of reach. There are also metrics on how to increase your content’s reach and achieve higher visibility on the platform.
Page Insights is fairly easy to use. The software comes with two handy courses for beginners. One course teaches you how to generate insights and make data-driven decisions while the other provides tips on how to leverage marketing insights.
4. Attest
Pricing: Paid plans start from £0.40/response; a free version also available
It’s every entrepreneur’s dream to get their business to penetrate global markets, and Attest is here to make those dreams come true.
This market research tool allows you to conduct regular surveys online and spot important trends so you can align your products and services accordingly. The software also helps you uncover crucial market changes that will enable you to make more strategic business decisions.
Attest promises to help your business reach 125 million potential leads spread across 58 countries. The feedback from surveys undertaken using this software is highly reliable, considering that the tool mostly targets real customers. Even better is that you can get verified results in a matter of a few hours. Besides, you can still narrow down your surveys to specific niches within the software’s wider target group.
But Attest doesn’t only work as a survey tool. The software also provides research-backed advice that you need to future-proof your business. With this program, you can eliminate all the guesswork and align your company in the path of endless growth.
Attest currently has no free plan. However, the market research software provides some of the most flexible premium bundles. Rates start from as low as £0.40 per survey. Every premium plan comes with a dedicated research manager who’ll guide you through the process of creating meaningful surveys. The expert will also help you analyze your data to identify key areas of interest.
5. Statista
Pricing: Paid plans start from $39/month; a free version also available
This is probably one of the most underrated market research software. However, millions of smart entrepreneurs worldwide already rely on studies and surveys from Statista to spur their business growth.
Statista is a go-to market research tool if you’re looking for quality, data-driven studies. The software trawls your niche to provide reliable data on market trends, consumer behavior, and competitor strategies. It covers market and consumer data on more than 80,000 topics spread across 170 industries and 150 industries. Findings from these studies are updated on a daily basis, ensuring that you’re forever abreast of the latest developments in your focus market.
Statista maintains a team comprising over 500 data professionals, all working to ensure every research piece is verifiable before publishing it. These experts digest every bit of information received and only release it to the general public upon confirming its accuracy, timeliness, and viability. They also break down complex data into a form that every entrepreneur can comprehend without necessarily having prior knowledge in data science.
Besides its own quality data, Statista gives you access to content aggregated from 22,500+ reputable sources. You can even get your hands on exclusive data partnerships, such as background information.
Statista also integrates with many market research tools. You can sync the software to your other research programs by simply copying its HTML code.
6. Answer The Public
Pricing: Plans start from $9/month; a free trial available
If a user-friendly interface is the main thing you’re looking for in a market research tool, then we highly recommend you go for Answer The Public. The software has an intuitive interface that helps you track insights fast.
To use Answer The Public, you only need to enter a topic then select a region and language. The software will display a complete set of related topics and some of the questions people are frequently asking about the subject.
Now, there are two instant benefits here. First, entrepreneurs can identify the specific aspects of a product or service that their potential leads are most interested in. And secondly, the lists of questions can serve as excellent long-tail keywords for your next digital marketing campaign.
Answer The Public also provides an easy way to interpret its insights. The tool presents its findings in flat data sets or data visualizations that anyone can understand. You can readily share these insights with the rest of your team, making the software a perfect fit when conducting market research in large groups.
This software is also unique in that it focuses on hidden niches and Google searches that have never been seen before. Besides, the software maintains a trends monitoring function to keep your finger firmly on the pulse.
However, note that Answer The Public’s free trial version only comes with limited capabilities. Most of the tool’s cool features are accessible with an actual subscription.
7. PollFish
Pricing: Plans start from $1/survey; a free trial available
PollFish is a market research software dedicated to fishing out important information from polls and presenting it in a manner that every entrepreneur can understand. The tool provides on-demand access to your target audience, including their purchase patterns and general behavior. That way, you can make every business decision confidently, knowing that you’re banking on solid research.
PollFish comes with many other features that give it an edge over many market research software. One such feature is AI-driven surveys. Simply tell AI the research you wish to conduct and the algorithms will automatically create a survey for you.
PollFish is also among the few market research programs that provide mobile-optimized surveys. The tool’s mobile-first approach ensures your surveys land on the smartphones of your target demographic. This allows you to target a wider audience for more reliable insights.
It would also interest you to know that PollFish collates responses from over 250 million real customers worldwide. The tool delivers real-time responses, which can be instrumental in helping you make timely business decisions.
Besides helping you conduct quality surveys, PollFish also comes with features that let you gauge your brand’s reception. For instance, there’s a special concept testing function that you can use to test whether your company’s logo is receiving the expected response from your target audience.
8. US Census Bureau
Pricing: Free
We should probably start by reiterating that US Census Bureau is limited to the United States. Besides, the software only focuses on census reports. And as we know, old census data can become outdated pretty fast.
However, US Census Bureau can be a great fit for companies seeking to launch their products in the thousands of lucrative markets within the US borders. The tool provides meaningful data about America’s people, including their lifestyle and shopping trends.
US Census Bureau is the only software on this list that offers reliable data on the state of the US economy. The tool covers over 100,000 different geographies, including states, counties, cities, congressional districts, tribal areas, and zip codes. And it doesn’t stop there.
For each geographical unit, the software provides useful data on topics like employment rates, the healthcare system, the education system, and housing. This information can be invaluable for businesses targeting specific US markets. Entrepreneurs can easily identify the states and/or cities which are prime investment destinations for their business.
US Census Bureau’s website has powerful filter functions that help you tune your research in specific directions. You can filter by location, age, income, and year. To make the most of this feature, be sure to filter with the most recent years. That’s for the simple reason that census data has a way of going stale rather fast.
9. SEMRush
Pricing: Plans start from $119.95/month; a free trial available
SEMRush is the most expensive market research tool on this list. The software has no free versions and the most affordable monthly subscription fee is $119.95. So, where’s the equalizer?
Well, for starters, SEMRush provides more than just market research services. The software works primarily as a powerful search engine optimization (SEO) tool and enjoys the confidence of millions of digital marketing teams worldwide.
SEMRush has over 40 different tools under its portfolio, all dedicated to helping you with lead generation. The software’s primary goal is improving your company’s online visibility while also discovering key market insights. It achieves those objectives through its vast collection of services like SEO, pay-per-click (PPC), social media marketing (SMM), keyword research, competitive research, content marketing, and PR.
SEMRush’s Marketing Insights is perhaps the most important feature as far as conducting market research. Using this feature, the software researches your target market to reveal information that can help you better manage the competition.
The tool’s keyword research function is also important in figuring out the terms that most online visitors in your niche are searching for. You can further use the keyword function to generate quality keywords for your own business.
SEMRush also integrates with Google and many social networking applications. Besides, subscribers get access to in-depth suggestions curated by the company’s in-house technical auditors.
10. Tableau
Pricing: Plans start form $15/month; a free trial available
Conduct successful market research and make your business more bulletproof against disruptive trends using Tableau’s powerful market research services!
Tableau was established with the primary goal of helping businesses stay agile and adaptable to the changing trends. The software works like a business intelligence suite of products that automatically connect you to any data source. It gives you the ability to filter content depending on your focus niche. There are dozens of metrics to choose from.
Contrary to what the name implies, Tableau doesn’t present its data in complex tabulations. Rather, the software helps you to visualize all your research information in an easy-to-understand format. You can easily pick out insights from each research finding and use it to gain an edge over the competition.
Using this program, you can create new data flows. You can even edit and modify a data flow or export it in various file formats, including .TDE, .CSV, and .HYPER.
Tableau also scores highly in terms of the data range you can visualize with it. The program gathers information from virtually any research topic. It gives you quick access to insights on fairly lucrative but well-hidden markets.
As with any efficient market research software, Tableau integrates seamlessly with many productivity applications. The tool has no free plan. However, you get to pick from three different premium bundles provided, which start from $15 per month.
Wrap Up
As you may have gathered, market research tools differ fundamentally in their approach. Some programs let you conduct market research through online surveys while others provide insights via keywords.
The conventional wisdom is to pick a market research software that targets wider geographical locations and presents its findings in lay language.
