How to correctly view the value of market and user research

Edit Introduction: From ancient times to the present, the emergence of the market economy has achieved the exchange of user value. The market and user information have become a very important production factors and resources, which can link enterprises and users. This article analyzes the value of market and user research, and hopes to inspire you.

01

Looking back at history, China's market and user research industry is a product of the planned economy and the birth of the market economy. The market economy brings free exchange of commodities or labor services and free competition.

In the era of free competition, in order to sell their own goods or services more efficiently, enterprises have achieved value exchange with users. Markets and user information have become a very important production factors or resources. Essence

The Chinese market and user research industry has been based on the moment of "providing Chinese markets and user information for foreign companies to help them understand the emerging market of China". Subsequently Local large -scale enterprises competing for foreign companies.

This value is essentially based on the "poor information". This "information difference" is particularly prominent in a brand new market (such as foreign markets, an emerging segment industry). Maximize.

However, this kind of "poor information" will be quickly filled with time and the accumulation of information. The rise of big data is just accelerating this process. In this process, the value of market and user research will be obvious. The recession curve.

Therefore, the market and user research team within many companies will face a problem, that is, after a few years of "saturated" research, the market and users can touch it. What topics, it seems that the research has been studied, but there is such a team to feed, and can only rack the brains to come up with some new topics through "packaging". Then these new topics may actually help the business team very limited.

In addition, the value of the market and user research can be said to be closely related to the life cycle of the industry & business office. Generally speaking, the more mature and saturated the industry in the industry & business, the smaller the space that can be exerted, and the lower the value.

But as an enterprise, it is impossible to watch the Red Sea that is going towards competition and waiting for the decline of the industry. It is bound to transform or find new growth opportunities in advance. One spring.

Therefore, the value transmission of market and user research is wavy, similar to tide. As practitioners of market and users, like a group of gold rushing people, they are always on the way to catch up with the trend of the times. We looked at history and found that customers who have served by users in the Chinese market and user research practitioners have been reflected from the earliest fast -moving consumer, durable consumer goods to cars, 3C digital, real estate, finance, and medical treatment to today's Internet.

02

Of course, there are also do not convert the track. Those who are deeply cultivated in a certain industry or field. I have seen many industry predecessors have been deeply picked up in a certain company for many years. On the one hand, it is because the business of its service is still changing every year, and on the other hand, it has opened up the second value curve for market and user research, that is, the user experience.

In a period of maturity in an industry & business, from the stage of incremental entry into the stage of stock killing, it is particularly critical to compete for the user experience.

However, after the research team's measurement, diagnosis, and improvement of closed -loop management of the user experience, the satisfaction of this product will reach more than 90%one day, further improvement of the shortcomings of succession, so that the marginal effects and user experience competitions will occur. It will eventually usher in the "final".

Therefore, most of the market and user research teams within the enterprise will have "value anxiety", and many practitioners will periodically question the value of their work.

This "value anxiety" will be particularly reflected in the research team of Internet companies. This is because the value part of the "information difference" is eaten by big data. In many ways Serving business decisions in an all -round way, over time, the business team will tend to rely more on big data teams rather than market and user research teams to obtain information.

So, if you ask me what I think of the value of the market and user research now, my answer is to provide the market and user information required for business decision makers, and help the decision makers make correct decisions as much as possible. Essence

As for this information, whether it can be transformed into a business team's action, that is, the so -called landing, in fact exceeding the ability of the research team's ability. The research team can only ensure that through research design, various quantitative & qualitative research methods, tools, obtaining obtained The required information, real and accurate information.

03

Of course, the interpretation of the market and user information based on the obtained market and user information is also the duty or value of the research team. This is important, but it needs to know its limitations.

Why do you say that?

Because after all, the research team is not a business team. If you do not participate in the specific operation of the business in person, there is a deviation in the situation and understanding of the business. This is more obvious in a China -Taiwan research team. Only enough understanding and understanding can there be correct and effective information interpretation/insight.

I don't know if you have such an experience. At a report to a high -level report, the leader of the business can usually give a deeper and bloody interpretation of some data in the research report, often making researchers ashamed. In addition, since the past few years, I transferred from Party B market research company to Party A and found that a clear phenomenon is that the market research company has a trend that has become outsourcing. The research team within the company is responsible for the final information interpretation. The insights provided are high.

This is in line with the laws of information diffusion. The business team is in the center of business decisions and knows the core of the business. Secondly, the internal research team is exposed to the business sub -core information/second -hand information; finally Obtaining peripheral information of business is more inconspicuous about the internal business situation and understanding of the enterprise, so it is more likely to fall into the market and user information interpretation/insight.

(▲ The spread of business information)

Therefore, in my opinion, the business demand party should correctly view the value of the market and user research correctly. Do not underestimate (many times, the market and user information are very necessary, which can bring the market and user cognition. The final competition is cognitive ability), and do not have too high expectations (try to solve the problem once and for all through the market and user research to give business problems once and for all).

To treat the market and user research team and the information it provides as an important production resource/element, what the business team needs to think about is how to make more reasonable and maximize the use of this resource. The final decision and even the landing still require the business team Bow your own strength.

Fully ignore the market and user research teams, so that the market and user research team has no sense of presence so that they have to actively empower, or depend on the market and user research team too much. Not appropriate.

In terms of market and user research, business teams should play a real role as a demander. Its most important responsibilities are to propose reasonable business issues, and the most important responsibilities of market and user research teams are to disassemble business issues. Knowing which markets and user information are needed, and the market and user information are obtained through some methods and tools to answer the questions as much as possible.

#Columnist#

Liu Peilong, everyone is a product manager column writer. Graduated from Renmin University of China, 10 years of+market and user research experience, and has worked in well -known market research companies around the world in Kantar, Nielsen, and currently worked at the Vivo Internet research team. Deliven more people to understand market and user research.

This article is published by@本 本 本 本 is the product manager. Reprinting is prohibited without permission.

The question map is from UNSPLASH, based on the CC0 protocol.

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