Covid-19 surely did bring the whole world to a standstill and every business right now is struggling to survive. Many countries have started lifting off lockdown in a systematic manner as no one can afford to close the whole nation, for we don’t even know how long. The spread of COVID-19 is not stopping and no one knows how long will it be until everything gets normal and all of us can go back to the way we used to live our lives.There is an unprecedented change in consumer behavior and no one knows if it will ever go back to the way it was before. As the businesses are trying to get back on their feet, market research is an effective way to go about it right now. According to the reports initially, there was a decline in market research due to cash crunches but soon companies started realizing the need for understanding and adapting to the changing social and economic dynamics. Especially in this digital era, the process of conducting market research has become way too easy and the global surge in internet users has made the shift from traditional methods to digital methods comfortable. The process of market research enables companies to find out recent trends or the trends that are headed towards the market shortly. It helps businesses to know what drives their customer’s behavior and decisions which eventually helps the business to draw a roadmap for the future.

Market Research During COVID

“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less,” said Marie curie. There is nothing that we can do to make everything go back to normal but only try our best. The role of market research during COVID-19 has become all the way more important because-

• Everything is changing quickly and businesses need to adapt to changing social and economic dynamics. As the economy continues to fall businesses need to find a way to support their customers which starts by understanding how can they help their customers to their best capacity.
• It will bring light to all the strategies that are working and will help you to compare the new strategies from the existing ones. This strategic analysis will help you continue with your operations in a lot more effective manner. Also, it is an opportunity to reach out to your customers, which shows them that you’re listening to them and coping up with their changing requirements.
• Customer needs are changing at a really fast pace and market research can help you to cope up with it as well as help you in identifying how to satisfy those emerging needs to the best of your capacity.
• It will help you understand your customer’s reaction and mindset during this pandemic which will eventually help you your customer’s expectations from your company. For example, a large part of the urban population of India who didn’t shop from e-commerce often has started to rely on them completely. Because of this report, the e-commerce market in India is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 19.6% between 2019 and 2023. This report can act as an indicator for many businesses to start shifting their operations online.

Online surveys have been gaining a lot of popularity as it is the only practical option right now. Because of the digital means, customer participation has also increased in different research groups. There has been an increase of around 40% in user participation for different surveys during this pandemic.This is the time to bond with your customers on an emotional level and show them your support. By showing your support right now, you are likely to create more loyal customers than before. Online survey is the best practice to follow right now as it is the only method that can give a high response rate as well as effective responses, given the current scenario. This is going to send a signal to your customers that you care about making their life easier.One thing that every business needs to keep in mind is that you do not want to do research just for the sole purpose of increasing your profits but actually look out for your customer. Your customer who might be already facing some difficulties during this time is not going to like you capitalizing on this situation and is only going to move away. Your customers want to know that you actually care about adding value to their life.

Focus Of Research

• Look for the response of customers to this pandemic and see how they are reacting to it and simultaneously look for how their needs are changing and what can you as a business can do to solve it. Try to find out what are your customers expecting of your brand. Keep a close look at their buying patterns as their behavior may not give you the full information so you need to analyze their patterns or trends and keep digging more so that you can develop an appropriate strategy.
• Identify the long term requirements of your customers. It means that when almost every brand might be looking at the negative side or short-term implications of this situation you should start seeing long-term implications of this pandemic.
• Look out for your employee’s reaction to the pandemic. Your workforce creates a major impact on the success of your business and you must try your best to keep them satisfied as they play a huge role in the whole working of your business and make sure their voices are heard with an unbiased point of view.
• Identify what type of content is your audience consuming, as every business needs to provide their audience with useful content to add value as well as make sure that the customer feels connected to the organization and remains loyal.

So, it has been established well that market research is the need of the hour but the question arises that does online research give efficiency?Survey2connect takes care of all the needs of our customers. Survey2connect audience provides our users to find the best suitable audience for their research purposes and helps in the whole process of finding the audience, creating survey questions, and provides with accurate analysis and reports.