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Eli Diament  shares an article that identifies how market research can be used to inform and improve business strategies.

Primary market research and B2B surveys are a crucial tool for business strategy and decision making. Done well, they provide data-driven insights into market dynamics, new sources of growth, customer and competitor behaviors, and the drivers of purchasing decisions. They also enable companies to define and quantify opportunities—and craft actionable ways to pursue them.

Unfortunately, the market research landscape is dominated by providers that use stale expert networks, static panels, and poor processes that ultimately deliver inadequate and unreliable results. Quotas are missed because providers claim there aren’t enough people who match the target profile. Large amounts of data must be thrown away due to quality. What’s more, clients are often blamed for these issues—when in reality the fault lies with the research provider’s own practices.

How can you make sure your research provider is poised to deliver the insights you need to drive growth and answer your most pressing questions? Start by discussing the following five questions:

How do you source survey respondents?

What’s at stake: Most research firms source respondents using expert networks or panels. These pre-recruited groups are motivated by quantity, not quality. Potential respondents receive multiple survey invitations each week. Few of these respondents are credible decision-makers.

What you can do about it: You can’t trust insights generated by unreliable respondents. That’s why leading providers recruit every respondent for each study from scratch. The best way to ensure that you’re getting fresh, high-quality sources that align with your research objectives is to draw from a population that’s limited only by the size of the market—rather than the size of a pre-recruited group.

Key points include:

• Well-executed surveys

• Customized recruitment strategies

• Smart analysis

Read the full article, Market Research: Drive More Value with Market Research: 5 Ways to Maximize Impact, on AzuriteConsulting.com.