Aligning Customer Research with Business Objectives

Customers should be should be at the forefront when decisions are made regarding a company's products and services. Businesses that are customer-centric are shown to have more success than businesses that are purely profit driven. As a market research manager, it is good to be close to your buyers.However, every market research department should be equipped with a research team that also understands the firm’s vision, mission, long term and short term goals. This allows you to align customer research efforts with business objectives.Here are five benefits of customer research:

1. To get to know your existing customers and your potential customers so that you can determine your sales strategy.
2. To know the demographics that your products/services appeal to.
3. To know how often they buy your products/services.
4. To ask what they think of your packaging, your prices as compared to your competitors,
5. It is also good to know how product/service changes will impact their opinions.

Ultimately, customer research should provide you with actionable data. If you can't make conclusions such as the need for new product developments, packaging changes, value-add features, price adjustments, or brand enhancements, your research may lack proper focus. Don't waste an opportunity to connect with your customers by coming to the table unprepared. This is a common mistake many companies make with customer research. Insist on frequent customer research that has clear goals and objectives in mind, so in the end, you have actionable data.