Venna Pavaday : How market research is shaping Mauritian business

Simply put, companies play a guessing game when they act without conducting research or analyzing the industry. Data is central to business decision making and nowadays collected instantly and constantly. Businesses are today in a position to learn about their products, their customers and their competitors like never before. But are businesses really making use of the information available to them?

Market researchers are often sought to bridge the gap between data and smart data, by getting rid of dirty data that businesses sometimes collect and focusing on data which bring understanding and insights that deliver competitive benefits. At the heart of market research is skill and interpretation.

While some companies choose to undertake their research and crunch their numbers in-house, others realize the benefit of commissioning an independent specialist firm for their research needs. Dedicated market research businesses are thought leaders and spend their working lives trying to outmaneuver the competition simply by being better. They must constantly improve to impress new clients and they are bound to provide fair results as they are judged on their reputation for independent and untainted results.

Data in itself is meaningless. It is the analysis and insight, through the storytelling, that provides real value. Most businesses do not want to wade through big data today. Neither do they want a snapshot of the data. Rather, they want market researchers to connect the dots for them on what they have discovered and to provide them with clear instructions on how to improve their bottom line step by step. Businesses today expect market researchers to communicate lessons to them and explain how to act on data, rather than providing the specifics of the data itself.

Across all industries, time is precious, and actionable insights are important in marketing and advertising, product development and sales. The days of the 15-slide decks are long gone.

It is no longer good enough for market researchers to parcel unstructured data, make observations and provide reports to clients. Clients expect them to step up, shifting from data gathering to data analysis.

Market research companies are therefore having to evolve and innovate to meet the needs of their clients. Some are focusing more and more on behavioural economics, where consumer behavior is observed in real life situations rather than analysed through a set of pre-defined questions. Other market research companies are bringing new levels of clarity through infographics and animated videos, which can convey a thousand words in a few seconds. A small number of market research companies have even raised their game and accentuated their skills to provide sentiment analysis, trends analysis and predictive analytics through statistical tools.

At VERDE, we have done that by combining traditional market research with data science and business intelligence, as clients want substance, great reliable insights and information that they can turn into action. We have also been the first to research themes which have never been addressed before. We are encouraged to put our ideas forward because we are backed by data. We are a fresh pair of objective eyes and our evidence-based approach is now sought regionally. We also work with a number of communication agencies today as clients are looking for evidence-based information prior to decision making.

Clients are today coming to us for solutions which range from pre and post advertising testing and market measurement to predictive analytics and even devising a customer satisfaction index for the industry.

Done right, market research is really just problem solving with the help of data, with the ultimate aim of addressing a client’s burning issues, however complex they may be.