Ever wondered how brands like Honeysticks went from making beeswax crayons in New Zealand to breaking into the US market? How Life360 identified opportunities for future product development? Or how Food Snob knew exactly which new cheese varieties would win over their customers? The secret sauce isn’t just good ideas – it’s solid market research.
Doing your homework through strategic research isn’t just about gathering data – it’s about making smarter moves that really pay off. Whether you’re planning to expand overseas, launch new products, or simply want to understand what makes your customers tick – turn your ‘hunches’ into winning business decisions with deep insights.
Understanding Your Customer Journey
Market research provides invaluable insights into consumer behaviour, purchase drivers, and brand perceptions. For instance, Food Snob’s two-stage research approach, combining qualitative online community engagement with quantitative surveys, revealed detailed insights about their customers’ purchase journey and occasion-based consumption patterns. This comprehensive understanding enabled them to optimise their three-year brand strategy and inform future product development.
Validating Market Opportunities
Before investing in new markets or product categories, thorough research can validate opportunities and minimise risks. Honeysticks’ expansion into the US market exemplifies this approach. Their research, involving 1,500 parents of children aged 2-8, provided crucial insights into demographics, values, and purchase behaviours, allowing them to align their product development with market demands while staying true to their core brand values of sustainability and safety.
Optimising Brand Position
Research helps brands understand their competitive landscape and identify unique positioning opportunities. Through perceptual mapping and consumer behaviour analysis, companies can better understand where they stand in the market and how to differentiate themselves effectively.
US-based company and leading family location safety app, Life360, recently sought insight into several international markets including Canada, Australia, and UK to help unlock opportunities for future product development. The insights from the qualitative research helped them identify opportunities for future product development and growth and optimise their marketing efforts while acknowledging important market nuances.
Your Return on Investment
The investment in market research typically pays for itself many times over by:
- Reducing the risk of failed product launches
- Identifying the most promising growth opportunities
- Enabling more efficient marketing spend
- Providing clear direction for product development
- Building stronger connections with target consumers
Brands that invest in comprehensive market research gain a competitive advantage through deeper consumer understanding and more informed strategic decisions. Whether expanding into new markets, developing products, or optimising brand positioning, research provides the foundation for sustainable growth and innovation.
Global Marketing Manager Emily Findlay from Honeysticks summarises it well: “Working with real data and proof-points has really enabled us to see where our opportunities lie and where we should put our efforts into. We feel much more confident now in our direction.”
The bottom line? Whether you’re launching something new or growing what you’ve got, smart brands know that good research is the difference between taking a shot in the dark and making moves that actually stick.
