7 Key Advantages of Outsourcing Market Research Services
To make effective strategic decisions, business leaders need an accurate and objective understanding of market growth trajectories, key opportunities and threats, and the overall competitive landscape.
However, conducting market research is usually easier said than done, especially in a business environment where people are called to do more with less amid frequent budget cuts and staff turnover.
Market research is often a time-consuming, labor-intensive task, and organizations may lack the specialized skills and tools to build a complete knowledge base. As a result, many organizations choose to outsource market research to obtain the information they need by working with a third-party research firm. Outsourcing comes with several key benefits.
Top Reasons to Outsource Market Research
1. Make Data-Driven Decisions
“In this day and age, where major decisions need to be supported by independent data, there continues to be a need for outsourcing market research,” explains Lee Steinbock, Co-Director of Freedonia Custom Research (FCR), a division of MarketResearch.com. It’s much easier to make effective business decisions and gain stakeholder support when you have credible evidence to back up your strategies.
2. Access Specialized Knowledge and Skills
Market research firms offer expertise that companies may not have internally, such as developing economic models for measuring demand and forecasting market growth. A third-party firm can also pinpoint trends that cross multiple industries and offer a richer, wider viewpoint on any given topic.
3. Gain a Fresh, Impartial Perspective
Companies can become mired with internal biases and blind spots. “We don’t always know what we don’t know,” says Research Manager Jennifer Christ of The Freedonia Group, a division of MarketResearch.com. “Companies can be slowed down by being committed to their own view. An outside market research partner can help a company see new opportunities and trends.”
4. Gather Competitive Insights
“Firms like FCR also have the ability to call a company’s competitors, which is ethically difficult for a company to do internally,” says John Sherwin, Co-Director of Freedonia Custom Research. This primary market research can uncover detailed and actionable insights about a competitor’s product portfolio, pricing, distributors, sales growth, and more.
5. Obtain Qualitative Research
Competitive intelligence is just one component a market research firm can provide. Custom market research firms like FCR are adept at interviewing market participants on every node of the value chain, including customers and trade partners. These in-depth interviews can answer important “why” questions that dig deeper than surface-level numerical data to help businesses pinpoint specific areas of improvement.
6. Save Time and Money
There are several different ways to outsource market research services, but “all of this can typically be done in a faster time frame than if the work were to be done internally,” according to Steinbock. By purchasing insights, companies can save hundreds of hours of research and access information that would be very difficult to obtain any other way.
Although market research is not cheap, it can help mitigate the hidden costs associated with poor business decisions and free up staff to focus their efforts on other urgent tasks.
7. Maintain Flexibility
Outsourcing market research also gives companies much more flexibility. “Companies are able to acquire market research on an as-needed basis instead of hiring, training, and retaining an in-house staff,” explains Christ. When headcount and overhead costs are a concern, maintaining this flexibility can give you a valuable edge.