Innovative Research

During my winter break, I was reading an article that discussed why game changing innovations never see the light of the day. There were a couple reasons why that happens, but the main conclusion of the article was that judgement and assumptions of people who make a decision about the new product should be based on a credible data and analysis. If they are not, it turns into another missed opportunity. This certainly speaks to the importance of marketing research in product innovation.

After reading this article I thought how it is important to set the research in the right way so the new idea can turn into a product that customers would love to use. A well design research can help to identify advantages and disadvantages among the long list of ideas. It can also help refine the idea so it becomes more appealing to the larger number of the consumers. However the poorly conducted research can kill it completely.

Of course, when it comes to a research everything matter: the purpose, the process, the questions, the methods and of course people who take a survey. I would like to talk more about the last ones. If the target audience (which is the respondents who are selected to take part in a research survey) is defined too broadly the results can indicate that the idea has a limited appeal. Though it doesn’t perform well for a larger public it can still be a great idea among a niche group, to which it could be successfully targeted. If that niche group is never identified, you may never know if the product could have a potential success. The best way to find a specific group of people who might like the idea is to break data into multiple ways and look at the result of the survey by key subgroups.

On the other hand, If the survey is conducted among a narrow audience, it can eliminate a key group of people that were not considered interested in the product, though they find the idea appealing. That is why careful consideration while defining