I stumbled across an article written by a best selling author named Paul B. Brown, who wrote about the effectiveness of market research in the following Forbes post:
In summary, Brown’s title to his blog, “Here’s The Only Market Research You Need: Get Your Product Out In The Market Place And See If It Sells”, gives you a good idea of what he thinks about marketing research. Brown believes that market research is not a necessity for start up businesses. He believes that “When you do customer research, people tell you what you want to hear”. Another interesting excerpt from the post is “Here’s the way I put it to people who are hesitant to begin: “Can you learn to throw a ball or sail or swim from a book?” No, of course you can’t. Well, it is the same thing here.”
According to Brown, the best way for a startup to enter the market is to simply put the product out for purchase without analyzing its current state.While I agree with some some of Paul’s points, I have to disagree with others. While some forms of primary market research are indeed costly and time consuming, they provide firms with information that is for the most part current and applicable to the company. If the market research answers the right question, something as simple as a customer survey can help you identify where the company can improve its goods and services to further add value to the consumer.