market research software

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MARKET RESEARCH SOFTWARE

The modern platform for market research.

Get faster, higher quality market research with a single platform for all your organization’s research needs. Powered by AI and automation, it makes everything from designing a study to uncovering breakthrough insights easier than ever.

All your company’s research. One platform.

Remove redundancies, reduce costs, and decrease time to value with a single, modern platform for all your research requirements, market segmentation.

Track consumer behavior across unique segments, and take specific actions based on the value associated with each customer type.

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT & PRICING

Gather customer feedback on new products and services early and throughout the development cycle to save time and money.

COMPETITIVE BENCHMARKING

Put everything into perspective by gaining an understanding of where you stand in relation to your competitors. Capitalize on key business differentiators and identify gaps in products and services.

ACADEMIC RESEARCH

Give professors, academics and students access to the most powerful research platform trusted by 99 of the world’s top 100 business schools.

PURCHASE BEHAVIOR

Take your level of customer understanding beyond “who is buying” to “why they are buying”. Dive into the behaviors that influence purchase decisions.

MARKET TRENDS

Where is your industry heading? Monitor industry and market trends to keep your company ahead of the curve.

CONJOINT ANALYSIS

Understand the value your customers attach to unique attributes of products and services offered by your business. Optimize the customer experience without breaking your budget.

A/B TESTING & EXPERIMENTS

Go from “we think” to “we know” and make data-informed decisions by A/B testing across every segment. Test questions, products, experiences, or features in order to truly understand the effect of change.

PANEL MANAGEMENT

Turn email lists, site visitors, members of your social media groups, and others into your own research panels. A ready and willing panel increases response rates and turnaround times for any research you’re conducting.

How does ad content influence the way customers perceive your brand and/or encourage purchases? Answer these questions and more by conducting in-depth ad testing across key customer segments online and direct.

WEBSITE & MOBILE EXPERIENCE OPTIMIZATION

Understand how customers interact with your desktop and mobile experiences and make improvements based on customer feedback.

RESPONDENTS ON DEMAND

Purchase access to millions of respondents to collect feedback from exactly the people you need for your research. We can even run your project for you to ensure you achieve your goals.

Impactful insights, in the blink of an eye

Regressions, segmentation, crosstabs, maxdiff - you name it, iq has it covered. the most advanced statistical tests are applied across your entire dataset automatically to uncover insights in a fraction of the time of traditional research..

Open text, structured

Automatically analyze tens of thousands of open text comments with Text iQ. AI and natural language processing take open text and automatically categorize it by topic and sentiment so you can draw insights from the richest feedback of all — human language.

Prioritize what matters most

Instantly see the key drivers of anything from purchase intent to customer satisfaction with Driver iQ. Our automatic key driver analysis learns across your entire dataset to surface the key drivers you can focus on to have the biggest impact on the business.

Uncover trends and patterns

No matter how big your dataset, or how many teams are involved, Stats iQ connects the dots for you. It’s always running in the background, identifying the right test, running it, and alerting you to new trends, relationships and connections across the business.

expert review

Improve research quality and avoid costly errors with expertreview.

ExpertReview is your personal research assistant that uses AI to detect and remove quality gaps at every stage of the insights lifecycle.

• Avoid painful and costly errors when conducting research, and eliminate errors that come from poorly-designed studies
• Automatically flag problems like broken question logic, methodology errors, mobile compatibility, and even compliance issues
• Flag any sensitive or PII data, or poor-quality responses coming from bots, duplicates, cheaters, gibberish and other forms of disengaged respondents
• Detect, delete and redact poor quality responses with a single click

XM SOLUTIONS

Expert-designed, fully automated research projects, scale your impact, access experts and a flexible engagement model to scale your team and expertise.

• Access to 75+ experts, XM scientists and research managers to help you with design, analytics, reporting and respondent sourcing.
• 12,000+ customers, including 75% of F500. Top awards by Forbes, Fast Company, CNBC, Gartner Tech, Greenbook, Quirks, Trust Radius, G2 Crowd and more

Qualtrics’ Flexible Service Model

We know that sometimes you need someone else to manage a project so you can allocate energy to other initiatives. Other times, you need the flexibility and agility to manage the details yourself. Our offering gives you the freedom and power to dial up or dial back the services at any time during the program.

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Customization

• Engineering Services

QUALTRICS RESEARCH SERVICES

Make your research work harder for you.

Uncover deeper and more targeted insights with Qualtrics Research Services and our network of partners. Trained research experts help unlock cost and time savings, while flexible service options let you choose how much – or how little – support you need.

The market research platform trusted by over 18,000 brands

On my first day using Qualtrics I was able to do my surveys in HALF THE AMOUNT OF TIME it would have taken me using other survey tools — and I hadn’t even been trained in Qualtrics yet.

Qualtrics helps me CONNECT THE DOTS – bringing together all of the insights we have into clear, thorough, and actionable insights, which are brought to the stakeholders in a way that is easy for them to understand both the insight and what action should be taken by us.

See how Qualtrics can improve your market research

Qualtrics for market research, request demo.

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20 Best Market Research Software Reviewed In 2024

Stephanie Hood is an experienced marketing professional and Editor of The CMO. With nearly a decade spent as Marketing Manager at Discover Holidays and Executive Editor at VIVA Lifestyle & Travel, she built her career leading editorial and marketing teams and strategies that turn six-figure budgets into seven-figure profits. She now enjoys connecting with the world's top executives to learn their secrets to business success, and shares those insights right here with her community of like-minded professionals. Curious what she’s uncovered? Be sure to sign up for The CMO newsletter.

Our reviewers evaluate software independently. Clicks may earn a commission, which supports testing. Learn how we stay transparent , read our review methodology , and tell us about any tools we missed.

I’ve reviewed and evaluated the most popular market research software and shortlisted the best ones to enhance data accuracy and improve decision-making processes.

10 Best Market Research Software Shortlist

Here's my pick of the 10 best software from the 20 tools reviewed.

• 1. BuzzSumo — Best for content insights
• 2. Qualaroo — Best for in-context surveys
• 3. Ubersuggest — Best for free keyword research
• 4. Alchemer — Best for comprehensive feedback
• 5. SurveyJS — Best for customizable surveys
• 6. Dovetail — Best for qualitative data analysis
• 7. BrandMentions — Best for real-time brand monitoring
• 8. Typeform — Best for engaging surveys
• 9. Remesh — Best for AI-driven focus groups
• 10. Zoho Survey — Best for extensive templates

Our one-on-one guidance will help you find the perfect fit.

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Market research software is a valuable asset for any company. With the right software, teams can gain deep insights into customer behavior and make data-driven decisions. However, finding the right market research software can be challenging, especially with so many available options.

Using my extensive experience with marketing software, I tested and compared several of the top market research software available. From there, I compiled my results into in-depth reviews to help you find the best software for your unique needs. I’m confident you’ll discover your next market research software in the list below.

Why Trust Our Software Reviews

We’ve been testing and reviewing marketing software since 2022. As marketing managers ourselves, we know how critical and difficult it is to make the right decision when selecting software. We invest in deep research to help our audience make better software purchasing decisions.

Need expert help selecting the right tool?

With one-on-one help, we guide you to your top software options. Narrow down your software search & make a confident choice.

We’ve tested more than 2,000 tools for different marketing use cases and written over 1,000 comprehensive software reviews. Learn how we stay transparent & our software review methodology .

Best Market Research Software Summary

We’ve investigated the pricing and availability of free trials and demo versions so you can make a much simpler side-by-side comparison.

Compare Software Specs Side by Side

Use our comparison chart to review and evaluate software specs side-by-side.

How To Choose Market Research Software

It’s easy to get bogged down in long feature lists and complex pricing structures. To help you stay focused as you work through your unique software selection process, here’s a checklist of factors to keep in mind.

Best Market Research Software Reviews

Best for content insights

• Free trial available
• From $159/month (billed annually)

BuzzSumo is a content research and media monitoring tool for marketers, PR professionals, and content creators. It helps users discover trending content, identify key influencers, and monitor online mentions.

Why I picked BuzzSumo: It offers content discovery tools that scan billions of articles and social posts, helping you find relevant and high-performing content ideas. You can track real-time trends and set up alerts for your brand mentions. Its influencer identification feature allows your team to connect with industry leaders. Additionally, the comprehensive media monitoring tools ensure you stay informed about competitor activities and industry updates.

Standout features & integrations:

Features include content analysis, trending feeds, question analysis, and custom alerts. You can also leverage its Chrome extension for on-the-go research and the API for automation.

Integrations include Slack, Zapier, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok.

• Check out BuzzSumo on their website

Pros and cons

• Influencer identification
• Real-time trend analysis
• Extensive content database
• No direct customer support for basic plans
• Steep learning curve

Best for in-context surveys

• Free plan available
• From $19.99/month

Qualaroo offers a user research and customer feedback platform for real-time insights through customizable surveys. It's used by businesses to enhance user experience and improve conversion rates through direct feedback from website or app visitors.

Why I picked Qualaroo: Qualaroo's Nudge™ technology enables targeted questioning without disrupting the user experience, allowing you to gather actionable insights effectively. Customizable surveys and advanced user targeting ensure you can tailor questions to specific user behaviors and demographics. AI-powered sentiment analysis helps your team quickly understand feedback trends. 

Features include customizable survey templates, advanced user targeting, and AI sentiment analysis powered by IBM Watson. You can also use Nudge™ technology for real-time feedback without being intrusive. Surveys can be easily embedded on websites or apps, enhancing user experience and conversion rates.

Integrations include Mailchimp, Salesforce, Google Analytics, and Google Tag Manager.

• Check out Qualaroo on their website
• Real-time insights
• Advanced user targeting
• Easy installation
• Limited offline support
• Requires learning curve

Ubersuggest

Best for free keyword research

• From $12/user/month

Ubersuggest is a free SEO and keyword research tool created for digital marketers, SEO professionals, content creators, and small to medium-sized businesses. It provides key research functions such as competitor analysis, keyword suggestions, content ideas, backlink data, and performance tracking.

Why I picked Ubersuggest: You can perform extensive keyword analysis and get detailed SEO optimization tips. The tool offers market research insights into your competitors' strategies, helping you develop more effective content marketing plans. It also tracks your website's performance, providing actionable data to boost your search engine rankings and drive organic traffic.

Features include keyword suggestions, site audits, and backlink data. Your team can use these features to enhance SEO strategies, generate content ideas, and track website performance. The tool also provides competitor analysis to help you stay ahead in the market.

Integrations include Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Google Ads.

• Check out Ubersuggest on their website
• Performance tracking
• Competitor analysis
• Detailed site audits
• Limited customer support
• Learning curve for beginners

Best for comprehensive feedback

• Free demo available
• Pricing upon request

Alchemer is an online survey software for collecting customer feedback and enhancing engagement. It caters to a wide range of users across sectors such as government, education, non-profit, financial services, and food & beverage, converting feedback into actionable insights. 

Why I picked Alchemer: Alchemer allows you to create unlimited surveys and questions, free from response fees. It offers over 40 diverse question types and advanced logic and branching options to improve response quality. Flexible reporting options let your team customize analysis and export data efficiently. High-security standards protect your data and comply with ISO 27001 and GDPR. 

Features include unlimited surveys and questions, over 40 question types, and advanced logic and branching options. Flexible reporting options allow for customizable analysis and data export capabilities. High-security standards ensure compliance with regulations like ISO 27001 and GDPR.

Integrations include Asana, BigCommerce, Braze, Greenhouse, and Jira.

• Check out Alchemer on their website
• Customizable surveys
• Flexible reporting
• High-security standards
• Complex setup for some features
• Response time variability

Best for customizable surveys

• From $555/user/year

SurveyJS is a suite of open-source JavaScript libraries for creating surveys and forms, primarily catering to industries like healthcare, human resources, education, and market research. It provides tools for survey creation, data collection, and analysis, emphasizing data security and customization.

Why I picked SurveyJS: You can create customizable surveys with tools like the Form Library and the no-code Survey Creator. The platform supports self-hosting, giving you control over data storage and ensuring compliance with laws like HIPAA and GDPR. Its extensive documentation and support resources make it accessible to technical and non-technical users. You can also integrate it with popular frameworks like React and Angular for enhanced functionality.

Features include a Form Library for dynamic surveys, a no-code Survey Creator for easy form building, a Dashboard for data visualization, and a PDF Generator for automating workflows. Self-hosting options ensure compliance with data protection laws, and extensive customization options allow for branding and design flexibility.

Integrations include Azure, React, Angular, Vue, Knockout, jQuery, Bootstrap, Material, and Foundation.

• Check out SurveyJS on their website
• Excellent customer support
• Self-hosting capabilities
• Extensive documentation
• No native mobile app
• Requires technical knowledge

Best for qualitative data analysis

• From $30/month

Dovetail is a customer insights platform to help product managers, designers, researchers, sales teams, and customer success professionals centralize and analyze customer knowledge. It quickly transforms user feedback, calls, and documents into actionable insights, enabling data-driven decision-making.

Why I picked Dovetail: The platform offers features that help you organize and analyze customer insights efficiently. Its AI-powered insights can convert vast amounts of feedback into meaningful data. Dovetail also provides data privacy protection and integration with other tools, ensuring your insights are secure. Its ability to standardize research processes across teams makes it a valuable asset for fostering a customer-centric culture in your organization.

Features include AI-driven insights, fast analysis of customer data, and data privacy protection. Your team can also benefit from tools for organizing insights and integrating with other platforms. These features help centralize the process of transforming feedback into actionable insights.

Integrations include Workday, SAP SuccessFactors, ADP, Oracle HCM, BambooHR, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Google Workspace, and Slack.

• Check out Dovetail on their website
• Standardizes research processes
• AI-powered insights
• Fast data analysis
• Initial setup complexity
• Limited offline access

BrandMentions

Best for real-time brand monitoring

• 7-day free trial available
• From $79/month (billed annually)

BrandMentions monitors brand mentions across various online platforms, including social media, news, blogs, and videos. It caters primarily to businesses and marketing professionals, helping them track brand reputation and gain insights into marketing strategies.

Why I picked BrandMentions: It offers features like real-time alerts and sentiment analysis, allowing you to monitor brand mentions efficiently. You can engage with customers, track competitors, and manage your brand’s online presence. Its faster detection of mentions compared to other tools enhances your ability to stay updated. The platform's extensive coverage helps you measure the success of your marketing campaigns effectively.

Features include real-time alerts, sentiment analysis, and media monitoring. You can track brand mentions across social media, news, blogs, and videos. The tool also allows you to export results easily for reporting purposes.

Integrations include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Reddit, Pinterest, TikTok, Google News, and Quora.

• Check out BrandMentions on their website
• Easy to use
• Sentiment analysis
• Real-time alerts
• Occasional bugs
• Learning curve

Best for engaging surveys

• From $29/user/month

Typeform is a platform for creating forms, surveys, and quizzes that enhance customer engagement and data collection. Its primary users include marketers, HR professionals, and customer success teams, who use it for lead generation, feedback collection, and research.

Why I picked Typeform: Typeform offers customizable form designs and multimedia embedding, making your surveys more interactive. Follow-up questions help you gather deeper insights from your respondents. Additionally, it supports over 300 integrations, ensuring it fits smoothly into your existing workflows. Your team can create unlimited forms with access to thousands of templates, even on the free plan.

Features include customizable designs, embedded multimedia content, and follow-up questions for deeper insights. You can gather more data easily, with 96% of users reporting a better brand experience. The free plan allows unlimited form creation and access to over 3,000 templates.

Integrations include Slack, Mailchimp, Google Calendar, Zapier, HubSpot, Salesforce, Airtable, Trello, Asana, and WordPress.

• Check out Typeform on their website
• Follow-up questions available
• Multimedia embedding
• Customizable designs
• Template limitations
• Limited analytics

Best for AI-driven focus groups

Remesh is an end-to-end research platform designed to help organizations gain valuable audience insights for better decision-making. It facilitates research through well-crafted questions, anonymous feedback collection, and real-time data analysis.

Why I picked Remesh: The platform emphasizes equal participation, allowing diverse voices to contribute to discussions. Supporting over 30 languages, it meets high-security standards for data confidentiality. It's used for various market and employee research applications, including product development and advertising. Your team can request demos and access resources to enhance research strategies.

Features include well-crafted questions, anonymous feedback collection, and real-time data analysis. Your team can help to encourage equal participation and hear diverse voices in discussions. It supports multiple languages and adheres to high-security standards.

Integrations include popular tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Analytics, Salesforce, HubSpot, Marketo, Zoom, Tableau, and Zapier.

• Check out Remesh on their website
• Real-time analysis
• Supports 30+ languages
• Limited customization

Zoho Survey

Best for extensive templates

• From $7.42/month (billed annually)

Zoho Survey is an online survey and questionnaire tool for individuals and businesses to collect feedback and insights from their target audience. It primarily serves marketers, researchers, and HR teams by facilitating survey creation, distribution, and analysis. 

Why I picked Zoho Survey: It offers an intuitive drag-and-drop interface that makes survey creation easy for your team. With real-time reporting, you can quickly analyze responses and gain insights. Customizable templates help you build surveys that fit your specific needs. Additionally, advanced features like skip logic and piping ensure that your surveys are dynamic and engaging.

Features include customizable templates, real-time reporting, and advanced survey logic like skip logic and piping. You can easily create and distribute surveys with its drag-and-drop interface. The platform also supports multiple languages, making it versatile for global teams.

Integrations include Asana, Dropbox, Google Drive, Google Sheets, Mailchimp, Microsoft Teams, Salesforce, Slack, Trello, and Zoho Projects.

• Check out Zoho Survey on their website
• Easy drag-and-drop interface
• Multiple language support
• Advanced survey logic
• Requires internet connection

Other Market Research Software

Here are some additional market research software options that didn’t make it onto my shortlist, but are still worth checking out.

Best for AI-powered insights

Best for continuous insights

Best all-in-one marketing toolkit

Best AI-driven media intelligence

Best customizable survey solutions

Best cross-platform audience insights

Best data-driven UX testing

Best AI-enhanced experience management

Best real-time search data insights

Best consumer and shopper insights

Related Reviews

If you still haven’t found what you’re looking for here, check out these other tools that we’ve tested and evaluated:

• Marketing Software
• Marketing Management Software
• Account-Based Marketing Software
• Social Media Management Software
• Email Marketing Software

Market Research Software Selection Criteria

When selecting the best market research software to include in this list, I considered common buyer needs and pain points like data accuracy and ease of use. I also used the following framework to keep my evaluation structured and fair.

Core Functionality (25% of total weighting score) To be considered for inclusion in this list, each solution had to fulfill these common use cases:

• Conduct research via survey tools and polls
• Analyze market trends
• Generate competitor analysis
• Identify target demographics
• Collect data and create reports

Additional Standout Features (25% of total weighting score) To help further narrow down the competition, I also looked for unique features, such as:

• Predictive market research platform analytics
• AI-driven metrics and insights
• Integration with social media platforms
• Customizable dashboards
• Mobile app availability

Usability (10% of total weighting score) To get a sense of the usability of each system, I considered the following:

• Intuitive interface design
• Availability of templates
• Mobile compatibility
• Ease of navigation
• Speed of task execution

Onboarding (10% of total weighting score) To evaluate the onboarding experience for each platform, I considered the following:

• Availability of training videos
• Interactive product tours
• Chatbot assistance
• Webinars for new users
• Pre-built templates

Customer Support (10% of total weighting score) To assess each software provider’s customer experience support services, I considered the following:

• Live chat support
• Availability of a help center
• Response time for inquiries
• 24/7 support availability
• Community forums

Value For Money (10% of total weighting score) To evaluate the value for money of each platform, I considered the following:

• Cost of entry-level plans
• Range of features included
• Value of additional services
• Discount for annual payment
• Free trial availability

Customer Reviews (10% of total weighting score) To get a sense of overall customer satisfaction, I considered the following when reading customer reviews:

• User satisfaction rating
• Ease of use feedback
• Feature reliability
• Customer service experience
• Likelihood to recommend

Trends In Market Research Software

In my research, I sourced countless product updates, press releases, and release logs from different market research software vendors. Here are some of the emerging trends I’m keeping an eye on.

• Artificial Intelligence: AI is becoming integral in market research tools, offering advanced data analysis, predictive analytics, and automation of routine tasks. Companies incorporate AI to provide deeper insights and more accurate forecasting.
• Social Listening: Platforms are increasingly integrating social listening to capture real-time consumer sentiments from social media. This helps businesses stay ahead of trends and respond swiftly to market changes. 
• Video Feedback: Collecting video responses is gaining popularity, as it provides richer, more nuanced data than traditional surveys. Vendors utilize this method to offer more in-depth consumer insights.
• Personalization: Tailored user experiences are becoming the norm, with software offering more customizable surveys and reports. This trend is driven by the need for more relevant and actionable insights. 
• Enhanced Data Quality: There’s a growing focus on improving data validity and reliability through sophisticated validation techniques and better respondent vetting processes.

What Is Market Research Software?

Market research software is a tool used to collect, analyze, and interpret data about markets, competitors, and consumers. Marketing professionals, business analysts, and product managers use these tools to gain insights and make informed decisions. 

Features like data collection, survey creation, and analytical reporting help gather valuable market insights, understand consumer behavior, and identify market trends. These tools help users make data-driven decisions that can improve business strategies. 

Features Of Market Research Software

When selecting market research software, keep an eye out for the following key features.

• Data collection and aggregation: Gathers and consolidates data from various sources, allowing for comprehensive analysis.
• Survey creation and distribution: Facilitates the design and deployment of surveys to capture customer insights and feedback efficiently.
• Data analysis tools: Provides analytical tools to interpret and visualize data and to identify trends and patterns. 
• Reporting and dashboards : Generates detailed reports and interactive dashboards to present findings in an easily digestible format.
• Integration capabilities: Connects with other software tools to enhance functionality and streamline workflows.
• Mobile accessibility: Ensures that users can access the software and its features from mobile devices, providing flexibility and convenience.
• Customer segmentation : Allows categorization of customers into distinct groups based on various criteria, aiding targeted marketing efforts.
• Real-time data updates: Offers real-time updates to ensure that the data being analyzed is current and relevant.
• Collaboration features: Enables team members to work together within the platform, enhancing productivity and communication.
• Customizable templates : Provides pre-built templates that can be tailored to specific research needs, saving time and effort in setup.

Benefits Of Market Research Software

Implementing market research software provides several positives for your team and your business. Here are a few benefits you can look forward to.

• Improved data accuracy: Automated data collection ensures more accurate and reliable data, reducing human error and bias.
• Faster insights: Advanced analytics tools allow quicker data processing, giving you timely insights to make informed decisions.
• Enhanced customer understanding: Gain deeper insights into customer preferences and behaviors, helping tailor your products and marketing strategies.
• Cost efficiency: Streamline research processes and reduce the need for external research agencies, lowering overall costs.
• Better strategic planning: Access to comprehensive data enables more effective strategic planning and forecasting.
• Risk reduction: Identify potential market risks and opportunities early, allowing for proactive measures.
• Competitive advantage: Stay ahead of competitors with up-to-date market trends and consumer insights.

Costs And Pricing Of Market Research Software

Selecting market research software requires understanding the various pricing models and plans available. Costs vary based on features, team size, add-ons, and more. The table below summarizes common plans, their average prices, and typical features included in market research software solutions.

Plan Comparison Table for Market Research Software

Market research software faqs.

Here are some answers to common questions about market research software:

How do you go about conducting SaaS research with market research software?

To conduct market research for SaaS, start by setting your research objectives. Identify a pain point that needs a better solution and pinpoint your potential customers. Analyze your niche, market size, and competitors. Finally, speak directly to potential customers to gather insights.

What are three common mistakes made when using market research software?

Common mistakes in market research include not knowing what you’re looking for, using poor reference materials, and researching the wrong group. It’s also a mistake to rely on one data set and choose a subjective focus group. Avoid these by being clear about your objectives and using diverse, reliable data sources.

How do you ensure the accuracy of your market research software data?

To ensure accuracy, use multiple data sources and cross-verify the information. Employ both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Regularly update your data and use reputable tools for data collection and analysis. This reduces the risk of biases and errors.

Can market research software integrate with other business tools?

Yes, many market research software solutions offer integrations with other business tools. These can include CRM systems, data visualization tools, and project management software. Integration helps streamline data flow and enhances the efficiency of your research processes. Always check the compatibility with your existing tools before choosing software.

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The 19 Best Market Research Tools Of 2024

Market research is a crucial component of any business strategy. Here are some of the best tools you can use in your market research efforts.

Building a successful business is no easy feat, especially in a world where consumers have more options – and distractions – than ever before.

That’s why market research is essential to any business marketing plan and marketing strategy .

Market research lets you learn more about our target consumers and their behavior, spot emerging trends, uncover important data, and make informed business decisions.

But with so many target consumers out there and so many places and methods to reach them, where should you start?

In this article, we’ll cover some of the best market research tools available to you across a variety of tactics and approaches.

Let’s get started.

1. SurveyMonkey

One of the more well-known survey tools, SurveyMonkey offers a broad list of features and capabilities for creating audience surveys.

Whether you want to create your own survey or choose from one of its 250+ expert-created templates, SurveyMonkey offers a user-friendly interface that enables you to customize your surveys to your needs.

It also offers a suite of helpful features, including AI-powered knowledge to help you pose the right questions, as well as built-in reporting and analytics.

• SurveyMonkey offers a free Basic tier with unlimited surveys featuring up to 10 questions and 25 responses per survey.
• Individual plans start at $1169/month with unlimited surveys and questions, and up to 15,000 responses per year.
• Team plans start at $920/user/month, starting at three users. This level also gives you unlimited surveys and questions, but offers 50,000 responses per year.

2. Typeform

Typeform is an easy-to-use tool focused on helping users create intuitive and engaging forms, surveys, quizzes, polls, and more. Its selling point is the ability to create truly conversational, beautiful forms.

With Typeform, you can create slick surveys with customizable interactive elements, such as images and videos, that encourage your audience to take action. Its focus on interactivity makes it an appealing tool for market research.

Typeform offers plenty of useful features – from conditional logic to creating dynamic surveys – that adapt based on answers to real-time data analytics and integrations with tons of popular tools, from Slack to Google Analytics.

The company even offers a standalone video tool, VideoAsk, where users can create “video forms” to prompt responses.

• Typeform offers a Free plan with unlimited typeforms and 10 responses per month.
• Paid plans start at $25/month billed annually for Basic, $50/month billed annually for Plus, and $83/month billed annually for Business.
• The company also offers an Enterprise plan.

3.  BuzzSumo

BuzzSumo is a content research and analysis tool that can help you gather some powerful market insights.

Regarding market research, BuzzSumo can help you understand the content landscape in your industry (and beyond), find out what’s resonating with your target consumers, identify influencers in your niche, and track how your content is performing vs. your competitors’.

The BuzzSumo tool analyzes articles (over 5 billion!) and social media posts across the internet to identify top-performing content. It allows you to comb through five years of data so that you can discover the right content ideas for your audience.

• 30-day free trial (no credit card required).
• Membership tiers start at $199/month billed yearly for Content Creation (individual) plan, $299/month billed yearly for PR & Comms plan, $499/month billed yearly for the Suite plan, and $999/month billed yearly for the Enterprise plan.

4. Qualaroo

Want to capture user feedback and deepen your understanding of market trends? Qualaroo might be the tool for you.

Qualaroo is a customer and user feedback tool that claims to be “10X more valuable than email surveys.” Using Qualaroo, you can add a survey to a page on your website or integrate it into your product.

The tool uses behavioral triggering to show surveys or feedback prompts in response to specific user behavior, so you know you’re targeting the right people with the most relevant questions.

Qualaroo also offers visual customization so you can get the branding right, automatic language translation, a library of survey templates, audience targeting, and IBM Watson Sentiment Analysis to help you organize your results.

• 15-day free trial (no credit card required).
• Plans start at $69/month billed annually for Essentials, $149/month billed annually for Premium, and $299+/month billed annually for Business tier.

SpyFu is a great choice if you’re looking to conduct competitive analysis as part of your market research efforts.

It allows you to effectively “spy” on your competitors by viewing their marketing strategies, advertising history, what keywords they’ve bought on Google Ads, and more – which can help you find gaps in the market and optimize your own approach.

You can feed the SpyFu tool a URL, and it will instantly show you its results for SEO topics like organic keywords, top pages, backlink analysis, total traffic, competition, and more.

Not only can SpyFu help you gain an understanding of the SEO landscape for your industry and gain a competitive advantage, but it can also tell you how hard it might be to dominate a specific niche.

• SpyFu offers paid plans starting at $39/month for Basic, $79/month for Professional.

Another great tool for SEO and competitive analysis, Ahrefs is a popular choice of many marketers for good reason.

Using Ahrefs, you can learn more about the search landscape of your market, discover what keywords your customers are searching for, track your competitors, and analyze content in your industry to inform your own strategies.

With its keyword and content capabilities, Ahrefs will help you find gaps and opportunities in the market so that you can improve your content, your site, and your search visibility.

• Website owners can sign up for Ahrefs Webmaster Tools for free limited access to its Site Explorer and Site Audit tools.
• Paid plans start at $129/month for Lite, $249/month for Standard, $449/month for Advanced, and $14,990/month for Enterprise (billed annually).

7. Delve AI

User personas are a crucial facet of an effective marketing strategy – and as such, developing them is a common step in any market research process.

Thanks to tools like Delve AI , it’s easier than ever to build user personas.

Delve AI offers a suite of persona-building tools based on your needs and the data available to you. Depending on what stage your business is in, you can generate:

• Competitor personas using Delve AI’s data.
• Social personas based on your social audience.
• Customer personas using your customer information.
• Live personas for your website based on Google Analytics data.

Beyond its multi-channel capabilities, Delve AI uses AI algorithms for accuracy in personas, offers behavioral insights, real-time updates to your personas, and more.

• The company offers a free Lite plan.
• Business plans start at $89/month for Standard, $199/month for the Growth tier, and $549/month for Pro (billed annually).
• Agency plans start at $209/month for Standard, $429/month for Growth, and $859/month for the Pro tier (billed annually).

8. Sprout Social

We don’t need to tell you about the importance of social media when it comes to connecting with your audience and driving business success. It can also play a major role where market research is concerned.

Sprout Social offers a robust suite of social media management features. Perhaps the most useful for market research are social listening features – which allow you to track market trends, industry keywords, and social conversations – and its competitor analysis capabilities.

It also provides insights into audience demographics, behavior, and interests, which you can use to inform your marketing approach.

• Free 30-day trial.
• Plans start at $199/month for Standard, $299/month for Professional, and $399/month for Advanced.
• Sprout Social also offers an Enterprise tier plan.

9. Google Trends

How can you supercharge your market research efforts? Look to search data.

Google Trends is an incredible tool that enables you to analyze real-time and historical search data to discover market trends, up-to-date consumer insights, and more.

By using this tool to access the latest information on how people search on Google, you can spot emerging interests and opportunity areas, and keep an eye on what consumers are most interested in.

It also offers location filtering so that you can see what’s trending in any given market.

10. Statista

If you’re looking for data and statistics on pretty much anything in the world of business and marketing, you might want to check out Statista.

It’s a business intelligence platform that provides “statistics, reports, and insights on over 80,000 topics from 22,500 sources in 170 industries.” This means that if you’re looking for specific market research insights, Statista most likely has something to fit your needs.

From in-depth reports to data visualizations and industry forecasts, Statista can give you reliable insights into what’s happening in markets around the world, and highlight market and consumer trends.

• Free Basic account available.
• Paid accounts start at $149/month for Starter and $549/month for Personal (billed annually), $959 for Professional (billed annually) with more options available.

11. Qualtrics

If you’re looking for something extremely robust, Qualtrics ’ market research platform is an all-in-one, AI-powered solution for your market research needs.

It offers a suite of features and capabilities, including:

• Panel Management : Enables you to create research panels from email lists, site visitors, social followers, and more.
• On-Demand Respondents : Companies can pay for access to survey respondents that match their target demographic.
• Product Development : Get access to early feedback on your new products and services from customers.
• Purchase Behavior : Explore data on what is fueling purchase decisions among your target customers.

While it requires a more dedicated investment, Qualtrics’ software is scalable and powerful. It comes with automation and integration with many other tools, and customers have access to a support team.

• Qualtrics offers a free survey maker tool with up to 500 responses.
• For pricing details, reach out to the Qualtrics team.

It’s important to stay on top of how your customers feel about your business, services, and products – and Temper provides a super simple way to do just that.

The concept is simple: Come up with a simple question you want to ask your question, and your customers can respond by clicking a smiley face that corresponds to how they feel.

You might want to ask your customers, “How do you feel about our new product?” or “Please rate your experience with our customer support team.” With just a little bit of code, you can place a Temper widget on your webpage, in a blog post, or in an email footer and get quick feedback on audience sentiment.

• Plans start at $12/month for Hobby tier, $49/month for Pro, $89/month for Business, and $199/month for White Label.
• Temper offers a 60-day risk-free, money-back guarantee.

You’ve likely heard of the question-and-answer site Quora , but have you considered its potential as a market research tool?

Quora is an online community where real people can go to ask questions about anything they’d like, and share their experiences and opinions with others via answers.

It offers a unique opportunity for brands to conduct market research within their specific industry or area by connecting with Quora’s diverse community of consumers, professionals, and others.

Try searching Quora for topics related to your business or niche, and look at what types of conversations are trending. Or, you could ask a question yourself!

It’s a great tool for engaging your audience , keeping an eye on your competitors, and even developing new ideas for content, product development, and more.

• Quora is free to use, though it also offers separate business solutions.

14. Crunchbase

Crunchbase is a handy tool for getting a good picture of your industry landscape and how your competitors are faring.

It’s a database of companies that includes information like funding round data, investors, and financial information for each business. It also includes information such as employee headcount, leadership data, and more.

You can search Crunchbase by region or industry, allowing you to see how other companies in your niche are growing, and who is deciding to fund them. This can help you identify investment opportunities and market gaps, or even just gauge the overall health of your industry.

• Crunchbase offers a Free plan where you can preview profile pages at no cost.
• Paid options start at $99/month for Pro (billed annually).
• An Enterprise option is also available with custom billing.

15. Google Market Finder

Another excellent market research tool from Google is Market Finder . This free, interactive tool is focused mostly on researching target markets – so you can use it to discover which markets might have the most potential for your company, monitor demand for your products or services, and more.

There are two primary features within Market Finder:

• Test your export readiness.  By providing your company’s URL and completing a short quiz, the tool will grade your “readiness” to expand into new markets abroad.
• Dive into new markets. You can take another short quiz that will suggest new market recommendations based on the information you provide, as well as external data like search volume and Google Ads.

Market Finder can also integrate with your Google Analytics data for more accurate information.

16. Semrush

Semrush is a one-stop marketing tool that can be leveraged to gain incredibly useful market research insights.

The company offers features dedicated to this type of research, such as its Market Explorer tool, which enables you to get quick information on your specific industry, conduct an analysis of market share, and benchmark your business against your competitors. You can also use the tool to analyze the potential of a new niche or market region for your business.

You might also find Semrush’s traffic analytics tool useful, as it allows you to go deeper with competitive analysis and target consumer demographics.

• Semrush offers a free account with limited capabilities.
• Paid accounts start at $139.95/month for Pro, $249.95/month for Guru, and $499.95/month for Business (billed annually).

17. Pew Research Center

While not a traditional marketing tool, the Pew Research Center is a widely known and respected resource that can be super effective when it comes to market research.

The site hosts a robust catalog of reports, surveys, and research covering everything from tech and digital media to politics, cultural trends, and more. The data is unbiased and credible, offering a unique perspective into what today’s consumers think and feel on various topics.

You can use the Pew Research Center as a tool to further hone your market research efforts, providing you with insights into the attitudes and behaviors of your target consumer, as well as the various factors that are impacting their desires and purchasing decisions.

18. Exploding Topics

We all know the saying, “I liked it before it was popular” – well, with Exploding Topics , your business can be the one to say this.

Exploding Topics helps you spot trends before they become super popular by analyzing searches, mentions, and conversations across the web to identify products, topics, and industries that are on the rise.

You can use Exploding Topics as a resource to help you predict shifts in the market and consumer interests, which can inform everything from your product design and strategy to your marketing approach.

It’s a lot like Google Trends, with some key differences; it pulls in data from a variety of sources and is focused on highlighting emerging trends before they take off.

• Exploding Topics offers a free version of its Trend Database.
• Paid tiers begin at $39/month for Entrepreneur, $99/month for Investor, and $249/month for Business (billed annually).

In today’s day and age, you can’t build a successful business without an effective website. But how can you know whether your website will resonate with your target consumer?

You can use Loop11 , a usability testing platform that helps facilitate user testing of your products.

Loop11 makes it simple to create a usability test and secure participants.

It enables you to view the user’s experience through video, audio, and screen recordings. Then, it presents you with in-depth insights and UX metrics to help you understand what’s working with your website, app, or product and what’s preventing people from converting.

• Free 14-day trial with full capabilities.
• Paid plans start at $179-199/month for Rapid Insights, $358-399/month for Pro, and $533-599/month for Enterprise (price depending on whether it’s billed monthly or annually).

Market research is key to any business plan, no matter what industry you’re in, what stage of growth your business is at, or what customers you’re serving.

From competitive analysis to keyword research, user feedback, and more, focusing on your market research efforts will pay dividends to your business in the long run.

And while there are plenty of different ways to approach market research, these represent some of the best tools available to you – and can be a great jumping-off point for you to get started.

More Resources: 

• How To Calculate Your Total Addressable Market (TAM) For SEO
• Market Intelligence: What It Is & How To Use It
• Competitor Mapping: What Is It & How To Do It

Featured Image: LAONG/Shutterstock

Writer, digital marketer, and content strategist. Annabelle has 8+ years of experience in social marketing, copywriting, and storytelling for best-in-class ...

The 13 Best Market Research Tools in 2024

Jul 26, 2024

10 min. read

The 328 million terabytes of data we create each day can be very telling about your target audience’s preferences and buying habits. This same data can also be inaccurate and low quality, depending on the source. That’s why the market research tools you choose matter — you need to be able to get the most up-to-date insights and trust what the data is telling you.

While traditional manual methods of market research and secondary research (aka desk research or complementary research ) still have a time and place in the digital world, marketers are supplementing them with market research platforms and software that do most of the heavy lifting.

Astronomical amounts of market-related data are created at lightning speed, far outpacing our ability to consume it all. To help find, filter, sort, and make sense of all this information, we’ve chosen 13 of the best market research tools to streamline and improve the process :

Meltwater Radarly

Think with google, ubersuggest, surveymonkey, answer the public, brandmentions, heartbeat ai, u.s. census bureau.

Tip: Also take a look at the top secondary research companies out there.

A leader in AI market research tools, Radarly is Meltwater’s AI-powered market research platform that provides real-time insights into consumer preferences . This always-on consumer intelligence suite uses a combination of data science, AI, and human market research expertise to surface insights about customers based on online conversations and activities.

Most of the world’s data is unstructured ( about 90% , by some estimates), making it harder to act on and understand its significance. Radarly brings structure to the unknown by detecting patterns and understanding audience sentiments.

Also, Meltwater for market research continuously sources new information and works in real-time. This gives marketers an advantage by working with the latest data so they can make informed decisions when it matters most.

See Meltwater Radarly live in action by requesting a free tour of our platform. Simply fill out the form at the bottom of this post and we'll be in touch.

Statista offers data trends and reports on a wide range of topics and interests, from Facebook’s monthly active users to leading beer brands based on sales. In total, the market research platform spans more than 170 industries and 150 countries .

What sets this resource apart is its visualizations — all of Statista’s stats have been compiled into neat and tidy graphs that are ready to publish or share in your own reports. This makes it easy to see trends over time or gain quick insights about consumer preferences.

There’s a chart for just about anything, and they’re updated on a regular basis. In many cases, Statista will include a brief explanation of the chart’s findings and recommend related charts for further research.

Google’s status as the world’s most popular search engine makes it a great resource for market research. Google has access to billions of first-party data points based on what people are searching for online. 

For market research purposes, users can tap into Google Trends to see the popularity of searches over time. See the terms that are trending on a daily or weekly basis, or check out shopping-related trends to predict the hot new products of the season ( trend prediction ).

Google’s Market Finder can also pinpoint new markets that might be a great fit for your product or service. Learn how various markets compare to each other and how your business might fit in.

And if you’re selling physical products, you can see how sales trends might impact your business using Google’s Rising Retail Categories . Retailers use this tool often to predict hot-selling holiday items and right-size their inventory.

Attest brings old-school focus groups and surveys into the digital era with its rapid-response approach. In the past, organizing interviews and focus groups took weeks or even months. Once the research activities were finished, analysts required additional time to compile the results. No more.

With Attest, you can hear directly from consumers who fit your audience profiles, with ready-made questions and respondents at your fingertips. All responses are recorded in the Attest platform, and the market research software analyzes results and collects consumer insights on your behalf.

Users pay per response, so you can scale your market research as needed.

A popular survey tool, Typeform offers a mobile-friendly way to collect market research insights . It’s unique in that it only shows users one field at a time to limit distractions. The look and feel lend to a more casual, conversational approach, which may encourage survey takers to be more candid in their responses. (We can’t prove it, though.)

Users can create various question types, including multiple-choice questions, open-ended questions, and scale ratings. It’s intuitive and makes basic market research a breeze.

Ubersuggest, a popular k eyword research tool , also has market research capabilities packed into its user-friendly interface . That’s because keyword research is a form of market research , giving you a glimpse of what people are actively searching for online.

Let’s say you’re launching a new facial cleaning device for your beauty brand . By using Ubersuggest for keyword research, you can also uncover:

• Other brands selling facial cleaning devices
• Publications talking about facial cleaning devices
• The popularity of online searches for facial cleaning devices
• Competition for related keywords
• Questions related to the keyword “facial cleaning device”
• Cost per click to rank for the keyword via paid ads
• Search volume (and interest) over time

This is a great tool to help you see who your top competitors are online, what type of content ranks well for a keyword, and how crowded a market is for a particular product or service.

Market Research doesn’t always have to be a costly, complex beast, and SurveyMonkey is a great example. This easy-to-use survey tool can create simple or in-depth surveys sent to targeted audiences for feedback. 

For example, you might have one-off questions to ask customers who made a purchase to learn more about their buying habits. Or, you might want to send longer surveys to customers to help develop a new product. No matter your use case, you can customize surveys to reach highly specific audiences and compile their answers instantly. 

SurveyMonkey also offers turnkey market research solutions, including a global panel survey, translation services, and a reporting dashboard. These services can help you reach more people and get more use from your data.

Answer the Public is a free search listening tool that compiles the questions people are asking online. These questions can serve as a starting point for new product development, product improvements, and content marketing .

This market research software uses autocomplete data from Google . When you start typing a search, Google will try to guess what you’re looking for based on what other people have searched for. You can do this manually, but it’s time-consuming and relies only on your ideas.

Answer the Public makes life easier by compiling related questions in an easy-to-understand graphic. And since the data comes from Google, market researchers can trust its reliability and quality.

Ever wonder what it is about a brand (including yours) that people love? The things that get people talking? BrandMentions can help provide some context.

Specializing in social media monitoring , BrandMentions takes the next step into showing why a particular keyword is buzzing. Type in a keyword and you’ll see recent social media posts that also contain that keyword.

You can also see the keyword’s Reach, Performance, and Number of Mentions — all of which can come in handy when you’re planning a new product launch. You can use these insights to plan your launch-related posts to generate the most buzz.

Tip: Learn more about brand monitoring , brand tracking , brand reputation measurement , about the best brand tracking software , and understand why your brand mentions are spiking .

AI market research tools like Heartbeat AI allow you to put market research on autopilot , or at least close to it. Using sentiment analysis , this market research tool recognizes themes and trends in qualitative text data.

No more poring through pages and pages of text — Heartbeat AI can quickly surface insights about how your audience feels regarding your brand or products (or your competitors). What’s more, it can turn these insights into attractive visuals for simpler understanding or sharing with other stakeholders.

Qualitative research can be more difficult to sort and analyze because it contains more variables. Unlike quantitative research, which deals with specific, measurable data, qualitative research involves the complexities of human behavior and perception. The results are subjective in nature, and it involves more work to extract their value.

Discuss aims to change the narrative with AI-powered insights . Offering video capabilities, built-in note-taking, and auto-generated highlight reels, marketers can capture the “Aha!” moments without losing efficiency.

The market research platform makes it easy to refer back to conversations and keep their audience engaged throughout the process, leading to more complete data.

One of the oldest but most trusted market research sources , the U.S. Census Bureau offers basic demographic information about U.S. citizens. This platform gives you instant insight into America’s people , including things like family sizes, income levels, and populations.

Beyond demographics, the market research platform has thousands of tables and maps to bring your research to life. You can customize your own maps and tables using any of the data available.

Another option is to find your business’s North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code , and then filter the Tables tool to focus on your industry. This allows you to see where your industry is most popular and where it might be over- or under-saturated.

Tableau from Salesforce is a business intelligence platform that connects to all of your data sources, making it easier to connect the dots between disparate systems. It excels at transforming unstructured data into visualizations to streamline decisions.

Their goal is to democratize data and make it more accessible and user-friendly. It accomplishes its mission with a user-friendly interface, visual data transcriptions, and a community of more than a million members who share how-tos and best practices.

Make Your Market Research Tools Work for You

Online market research tools aren’t replacing the traditional survey or focus group — they’re enhancing them by providing an always-on approach to speed up results. By tapping into the wealth of data people are openly sharing online, businesses can gain more insights than ever before, on demand.

Meltwater offers some of the best tools for market research that are accurate, reliable, and easy to use. By tapping into billions of data points and analyzing them in the context of your business, you can make valuable data-driven decisions to move your company forward.

Learn more when you request a demo by filling out the form below:

Continue Reading

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Top Secondary Market Research Companies | Desk Research Companies

28 Tools & Resources for Conducting Market Research

Updated: April 30, 2024

Published: March 16, 2015

Conducting market research pulls details together to help you choose new products or services to launch. They also help identify your audiences and best marketing strategies so you are ready to act without the guesswork.

Businesses use market research software to minimize risk and make more data-driven choices.

I own a small business, and by gathering facts and opinions, I can better predict whether new products or features — and for more prominent companies, even locations — will succeed before investing.

Here are 28 of the best tools for conducting market research, including a few recommendations directly from HubSpot market researchers and bloggers who use them.

Helpful Market Research Tools & Resources

1. similarweb.

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Similarweb is probably the highest quality, most well-known, and most convenient way to get and compare traffic information about any website you land on — short of having an expert analyst whispering in your ear, which could get awkward. Their free suite of products — including the Chrome extension — is worth exploring and gives you useful, high-level information. The deep insights come from taking advantage of their database of real-world information on global website performance gathered over time, which they’ve already been building for over 10 years. They have their finger on the pulse of online business worldwide, from sales to sites to stocks.

Microsoft, Amazon, and even Google use Similarweb and the insights they provide on other enterprise-level operations down to small businesses. If you want to know how your company stacks up and then initiate a robust research and marketing campaign, these are serious tools that can help you grow.

What I like: One of their add-ons is called App Intelligence, and it can benchmark your growth and track your progress against millions of apps — for both iOS and Android — and provide daily insights on app rankings, engagement, retention, and more.

Pricing: Starter plans cost $125 per month paid annually; professional plans cost $333 per month billed annually; team and enterprise plans have custom pricing.

For Max Iskiev , market research analyst at HubSpot, one research tool stands out from the rest: Glimpse.

He told me, “Glimpse is my favorite research tool. It’s quick and easy to use, allowing me to design and launch short surveys for real-time insights on trending topics.”

Writers for the HubSpot Marketing Blog have also used Glimpse to run short, 100-person surveys for articles (case in point: Are Sales Reps Rushing Back to the Office? ).

Not only is Glimpse valuable for doing quick pulse-checks on the latest trends, but it also leverages the power of AI for even deeper insights.

“Glimpse really shines when it comes to open-ended questions, using natural language processing and AI to analyze emotion and sentiment, saving time, and offering invaluable insights,” Iskiev shared.

Best for: Those who can invest in AI tools for their businesses but don’t need a decade’s deep dive like users of Similarweb might.

Pricing: Starter Plan - Free; Professional - $500/month; Advanced - $1,000/month; Enterprise - custom pricing.

Free Market Research Kit

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• SWOT Analysis Template
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3. BuzzSumo

BuzzSumo offers several highly useful tools that work best as a content research tool for mid-size businesses and up. If you need many ideas for a whole lot of content, BuzzSumo is likely a good fit for your company.

Their monitoring tools can alert you to new content that relates to your keywords of choice.

This is smart for writers, content strategists, and those who manage writers and content strategists to stay on top of trends in what consumers want to know more about within your industry — so you’re right there to provide it.

BuzzSumo also gives you access to reporting tools that stream various sources of information to your dashboard, making it easy to keep up with developments and build visual assets to communicate about them.

You can find major influencers — worldwide — through BuzzSumo that fit your brand to sponsor and collaborate with.

Unfortunately, BuzzSumo doesn’t integrate well with Instagram, so you’ll want to focus on influencers that use other social channels unless you’re willing to do IG work on the side.

What I like: Their Chrome extension is a nice addition to their offerings for companies that work with freelancers and remote workers to take the work on the move.

Pricing: Free 30-day trials are available. Content creation plans cost $199 per month; PR and comms plans cost $299 per month; suite plans cost $499 per month; and Enterprise plans cost $999 per month.

4. Answer the Public

Answer the Public is a sister product to UberSuggest, both being brainchildren of Neil Patel.

Answer: the Public watches what people are searching for and lets you keep track of how things change over time. By studying the changes, you can be at the front of trends — positive or negative — so you can respond to the changes quickly.

It’s billed as an excellent tool for public relations professionals to give them a heads-up on how their company is faring in the public eye.

If you fall on the wrong side of public sentiment, you can be right on top of salvaging the situation and making improvements to regain trust.

If you’re doing something right and see gains in positive engagement, you know to keep up what you’re doing and may even want to expand upon it.

Great examples of what organizations have done with information like this include Wendy’s ongoing roasts and savage clapbacks on social media.

The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation’s hilarious insistence on not bringing mountain lions in the house also nabbed engagement by the truckloads (of corgis).

What I like: I like that Masterclass videos are available. They make sure to include lots of opportunities to learn how to best use their products and get maximum value from the suite.

Pricing: Individual plans cost $9 per month; pro plans cost $99 per month; expert plans cost $199 per month. Lifetime Pricing is available. Individual lifetime plans cost $99, pro lifetime plans cost $199; and expert lifetime plans cost $1,990.

5. GrowthBar SEO

GrowthBar SEO is all-in for AI. If your leadership wants a slice of the AI action at work in the company’s market research, this might be the tool to reach for.

It uses ChatGPT-4, and the peer-to-peer review site G2 ranked it the #1 AI writing tool for SEO in 2022 and 2023.

What sets it apart is that the AI writing assistant doesn’t just compile and give word to information it finds online.

It offers selections of relevant keywords, titles, headings, industry standard word counts, and link suggestions that you can choose from as you move through the outline.

They also include tools for keyword research, keyword ranking, and information about your keyword competitors. And because Google search is incorporated into the suite, you can do most, if not all, of your writing work on one screen.

Pro tip: As with all AI content, you’ll need a writer to bring the content to life by fact-checking information, adding unique or inside perspectives, meaningful quotes, and many other values that make the content rich to read.

GrowthBar SEO knows this, and you can source freelance writers there as well!

Pricing: A seven-day free trial is available. Standard plans cost $36 per month; pro plans cost $74.25 per month; and agency plans cost $149.25 per month.

6. Statista

Statista is a data visualization website that takes data from reputable reports across the web and makes them easy and digestible for researchers, marketers, and product creators just like you.

“Statista is like my market research sidekick, giving me all the data I need without the endless search. No more digging through the haystack. With Statista, I can spot trends and make informed decisions with ease," Icee Griffin , market researcher at HubSpot, told me.

One neat aspect of using Statista is that the same chart is updated as the years pass. Say that you want to allude to the value of the beauty market in your proposal.

If your investor accesses that same graph a year from now, it will reflect updated numbers. Statista finds the most recent research to update their visualizations.

Pro tip: Statista doesn’t carry out original research, but does have around 100 analysts who seek out gaps in their resources to provide ever more useful, trending data.

Pricing: Basic plans are free. Starter plans cost $199 per month, billed annually. Professional plans cost $959 per month, billed annually.

7. Think With Google Research Tools

Wish you had information on your product’s likelihood of success?

Think With Google’s marketing research tools offer interesting insights on whether anyone is looking for your product ( Google Trends ), which markets to launch to ( Market Finder ), and what retail categories rise as the months and seasons pass ( Rising Retail Categories ).

If you’d like to market your product through YouTube, the Find My Audience tool allows you to investigate what your potential viewers are interested in and what you should discuss on your brand’s YouTube channel.

What I like: Free and incredibly useful in my experience, small and newer businesses really benefit from having tools like this to conduct market research and get their growth rolling.

Pricing : Free

8. Census Bureau

The Census Bureau offers a free resource for searching U.S. census data.

You can filter by age, income, year, and location. You can also use some of its shortcuts to access visualizations of the data, allowing you to see potential target markets across the country.

If you’re considering a highly competitive product or service, you can easily find out where your target industry is most popular — or where the market has been oversaturated.

Another helpful tool is the Census Bureau Business and Economy data , where you can also target premade tables depending on your industry.

Pro tip: The text information on each screen can be overwhelming, so here’s a shortcut for you. One of the best ways to use this tool is by finding the NAICS code for your business.

Then, access the " Tables “ tool, click ”Filter" on the sidebar, and search for your industry.

9. Make My Persona

HubSpot’s Make My Persona tool allows you to create a buyer persona for your potential new product. In this tool, you pick a name for the persona, choose their age, identify their career characteristics, and identify their challenges.

This allows you to pinpoint both demographic and psychographic information.

Creating a buyer persona is an early step in the marketing process but an important one to avoid scope creep.

If you’re unsure about details like these and how to use market research tools for your business, let me recommend Hubspot’s Market Research Kit .

It’s completely free and helps you build a strong foundation for data-driven decision-making in your future marketing strategies.

Best for: Make My Persona is best suited to B2B product launches because you’ll be prompted to document your buyer persona’s career objectives and role-specific challenges.

Ideally, your product would solve a problem for them in the workplace or help their company achieve revenue goals.

10. Tableau

Tableau is a business intelligence suite of products that allows you to “connect to virtually any data source.” But the data isn’t presented in unreadable tables.

Rather, Tableau helps you visualize this data in a way that helps you glean insights, appeal to external stakeholders, and communicate the feasibility of your product to potential investors.

You can visualize data on anything from corn production in tropical climate zones to office product sales in North America. With Tableau’s tools, you can take as granular or as general a look you’d like into potential marketplaces and supplier regions.

What I like: Visual information for humans and pure data for the machines all in one. Tableau integrates well with spreadsheets and databases so that you can export Tableau data to Excel , back up records in Amazon Redshift, and more.

Pricing : Tableau Viewer plans cost $14 per user each month when billed annually. Tableau Explorer plans cost $42 per user each month when billed annually. Tableau Creator plans cost $75 per user each month when billed annually.

11. Mentionlytics

Mentionlytics is a web and social media monitoring tool that allows businesses to discover people's thoughts about their brands, campaigns, products, or services.  Users can create and customize reports and get data-driven insights that will help them make informed decisions. They can also filter results by language, location, and social media channel to personalize results.  Analyzing sentiment and emotion lets you easily understand what will work for your brand and industry and what you should avoid.  The Share of Voice report allows you to benchmark against your direct competitors and industry. You can also identify trends and discover influencers in your niche and area to boost your next steps.

Best for: Mentionlytics is great for competitor analysis and crisis detection. Their Social Intelligence Advisor (SIA) turns large volumes of data into understandable knowledge to offer custom advice on crisis detection and brand growth.

Pricing: A 14-day free trial is available for most plans. Basic plans cost $69 per month; Essential plans cost $139 per month; Advanced plans cost $249 per month; Pro plans cost $399 per month; Agency plans cost $599 per month; Enterprise plans cost $950 per month. Annual billing options offer discounts.

12. Meltwater

Meltwater’s Radarly consumer intelligence suite is a perfect market research tool as it provides continuous insights that keep you ahead of various market trends and your competitors. Radarly monitors a wide range of global data sources to uncover what people are discussing, their behaviors, and their sentiments toward particular brands. It helps businesses understand consumer preferences and market dynamics in real time, which makes it easier to make strategic decisions.

What we like: Meltwater provides the online Meltwater Academy, providing you with an extensive amount of tutorial videos tips, and tricks on how to get started using Radarly. 

Pricing: Custom, you will need to book a demo call with Meltwater to get a quote

13. SurveySparrow

SurveySparrow is a market research tool designed for researchers and businesses to create engaging surveys and gather concrete data. With an emphasis on a conversational, easy-to-use interface, you can create targeted surveys that provide detailed insights into your market and consumer preferences. 

This market survey software comes with 1000+ pre-designed, pre-loaded survey templates, allowing you to create the perfect study without external help. You can also integrate it with various other tools you use daily for a seamless workflow.

One of SurveySparrow’s standout features is its robust analytics and reporting tools. With real-time capture and advanced report filters, you can slice and dice the data - the way you like. 

Best for: The platform offers a unique recurring survey feature, which allows you to send surveys at regular intervals automatically. This is particularly useful for tracking changes in user sentiment over time.

Pricing: SurveySparrow offers a 14-day free trial. Basic plans start at $19 per month; the starter plan is priced at $39 per month; Enterprise plans are available upon request for custom pricing.

14. Paperform

A market research survey is an effective way to better understand your target audience and their needs by asking them directly.

This step is integral to understanding your dream customers’ problems, so you want to ensure the process is as interactive as possible and gathers objective, accurate responses.

With its free-text interface, Paperform is as simple as writing a Word document. You can make your survey stand out by customizing colors, fonts, layouts, and themes to create your unique look and feel.

There are 27+ question field types, such as ranking, matrix, or scale fields. Use several to create visually engaging surveys that collect more information and see higher completion stats.

If you’re unsure where to start, you can use one of their expertly-made questionnaires or market research survey templates to get you started.

Best for: In my experience, Paperform can efficiently incorporate multiple customer personas. It uses conditional logic to show or hide questions or whole sections of content to create fully personalized paths. These interactive forms lower drop-off rates and boost customer interaction.

Pricing:  Essentials plans cost $29 per month. Pro plans cost $59 per month. Business plans cost $199 per month. For enterprise pricing, contact Paperform’s sales team.

GWI is an on-demand consumer research platform that makes audience research a breeze. Powered by the world’s largest study on the online consumer base, GWI provides insights into the lives of over 2.8 billion consumers across 50+ markets.

With 250k+ profiling points, you can find your unique customers and learn everything you need to know about who they are, what’s on their minds, and what they’re up to.

One user-friendly platform makes it quick and easy to become an expert on your audience and capture the answers you need to succeed.

Pro tip: GWI even has features to compare markets and create customized and shareable charts in seconds, helping you distribute critical information as quickly as you find it.

Pricing: Explore Interactive Demo for free; Flexible and custom pricing with discounts available.

16. SurveyMonkey

SurveyMonkey is a powerful tool for creating in-depth market research surveys that will help you understand your market and consumer preferences.

With this tool, you can create targeted, uber-specific surveys that help you collect answers that pertain specifically to your product.

While using a data source can give you a general overview of your target audience and market, SurveyMonkey can help you get more granular insights from real consumers.

SurveyMonkey offers dedicated market research solutions and services and a reporting dashboard option that allows you to easily parse through the results.

What I like: I like that SurveyMonkey is a good fit for exploring markets beyond your shores. It includes a global survey panel and survey translation service for international research.

• Individual plans: Advantage annual plans cost $39 per month. Premier annual plans cost $119 a month. Monthly plans cost $99 per month.
• Team plans: Team advantage plans cost $29 per person each month. Team premier plans cost $75 per person each month.
• Enterprise pricing is available upon request.

17. Typeform

Like SurveyMonkey, Typeform allows you to run research surveys to get direct answers from your target consumers. It’s an easy-to-use, mobile-optimized form-builder that’s great for market research.

Typeform’s distinguishing factor is that it shows viewers one form field at a time. In its templates, Typeform encourages a more conversational, casual approach (like in its market research survey template ).

You can create a wide range of question types, and other features include the ability to recall answers from previous questions and create logic jumps.

In a survey, you’d want to collect both demographic and psychographic information on your customers to understand their purchasing behaviors and the problems they encounter.

The goal is to find out if your product is the solution to one of those problems — and whether, before launching, you should add more features or rethink your product positioning strategy .

Best for: I think Typeform is best for product launches that target a younger demographic.

If you’re targeting C-suite executives at established firms, consider a more formal option, such as SurveyMonkey, or keeping your tone more formal in your questions.

Pricing: Free plans are available. Basic plans cost $29 per month. Plus plans cost $59 per month. Business plans cost $99 per month. Enterprise plans are available upon request.

18. PureSpectrum Insights (Previously Upwave Instant Insights )

PureSpectrum acquired Upwave Instant Insights in 2021 and rebranded as PureSpectrum Insights.

As before, this platform is primarily a consumer research tool. While it isn’t advertised as a survey creation tool, it allows you to launch market research surveys specifically to get consumer insights.

PureSpectrum allows you to perform customer and market segmentation and also to visualize your data for easy scanning by key stakeholders and investors. They’ve grown to include A/B testing, brand tracking, and customer sentiment.

Pro tip: PureSpectrum distributes your survey to real people. Take a look at their marketplace profile to get a sense of where and from whom you can collect valuable data.

Pricing: Schedule a demo for more information.

19. Claritas MyBestSegment

Claritas MyBestSegment provides product researchers with tools to understand a specific area’s demographic information as well as the lifestyle habits of those who live there.

Their audience segments give you information gleaned from tens of thousands of data points, giving you insight into much more than just household income, employment, and education levels.

By finding out what a segment of the population does — without having to go out and survey them — you can find out which areas would be most receptive to a campaign or launch.

You can also discover which competitors are located nearby and which lifestyle trends have shifted or are on the rise.

What I like: I like that they are able to do some of the leg work for you. Syndicated Audiences is a tool available from Claritas for finding an organized audience of consumers who are more likely to be interested in your products or services.

Pricing: Pricing is available upon request.

Loop11 is a user experience testing platform that allows you to test the usability of your website, study user intent, test the information architecture of your site, and examine how the user experience changes based on the device they’re using.

Loop11 tests your site on any device by making users perform tasks. They then complete a short question about how easy or difficult the task was to complete.

Your product may be phenomenal, but unless consumers can actually buy it through your site, your launch won’t be successful.

You can use Loop11’s participants for niche demographics or bring in your own to learn more about your current customers.

Best for: Market research for your site development. You can find out whether your target consumers find your site easy to navigate and also identify snags that prevent conversions.

Pricing: Rapid Insights plans cost $199 monthly or $179 per month, billed annually. Pro plans cost $399 per month or $358 per month, billed annually. Enterprise plans cost $599 per month or $533 per month, billed annually.

21. Userlytics

Like Loop11, Userlytics allows you to test the usability of your website, mobile app, and site prototype. You can target different devices, define a buyer persona, and disqualify participants based on screening questions.

Testing is based on tasks that your test-takers carry out. They then answer a simple question about the difficulty of the task. You can structure the question in various ways:

You can leave it open-ended, provide multiple choices, or ask for a rating. Other formats you can use include System Usability Scale (SUS) questions, Net Promoter Score (NPS) questions, and Single Ease Questions (SEQ).

What I like: Userlytics performs both a webcam and a screen recording. You can compare the user’s answers with their reactions on video to understand how they feel when they’re interacting with your assets.

Pricing: Schedule a free demo for more information.

Sometimes, you need a no-frills test to take the pulse of consumers. Temper allows you to create a question and pop it onto your website, into your emails, etc.

The smiley face, “meh” face, and frowny face make it easy for viewers to share their feelings — and for you to read their minds.

You can also add it to a product page or a landing page, tailoring the questions to fit your offerings.

As for what you see, there are three options for receiving the feedback: in a tab on each page you are monitoring, embedded in the web page itself to narrow in on aspects within the page, or at the bottom of emails so you can get real-time information as the interaction unfolds.

Pro tip: One great way I’ve seen this used is by adding it to a blog post announcing the launch of a new product. You can find out general sentiment toward the product before it even launches!

Pricing: Hobby plans cost $12 per month. Pro plans cost $49 per month. Business plans cost $89 per month. White label plans cost $199 per month.

23. NielsenIQ (NIQ)

NielsenIQ (NIQ) is a retail and consumer intelligence consultant that works with you to collect consumer insights, identify the best distribution channels for your product, and create a range of products to address the needs of your target buyers.

This service helps you look at your product launch from all angles, delivering forecasting data that predicts how your sales will perform upon launch. NielsenIQ can also run consumer insights surveys on their list of panelists and partners.

NIQ now offers a service called Byzzer to help small businesses with fewer resources. It opens a door for market research reporting, in-person events, and consulting at a lower cost than the full NIQ suite.

Best for: I think Byzzer can be a helpful and affordable option for smaller businesses, but because NielsenIQ operates like a consultant and not as a self-service software, it is a better option for established firms with a bigger product launch budget.

Pricing: Pricing is available on request.

24. Ubersuggest

Don’t be intimidated by the visually text-heavy Ubersuggest. It really is an easy tool for doing keyword and content research. You just input a phrase, and it’ll create a list of keyword suggestions.

You can also see top-performing articles and pages to better understand the types of content that rank for those keywords.

This tool is useful for market research because you can see who your top competitors are, how often your product is searched for, and whether there’s enough space in the market for the type of product you’re launching.

You can also find out the questions your target audience asks in relation to the product. Each of these questions can be turned into an informative blog post that can guide your audience, increase your brand authority, and drive conversions.

Pro tip: If you want a quick look at the results you can get, head to their website and do a search — just know that you only get one glimpse before they make you register. Alternatives to Ubersuggest include Moz , Ahrefs , and SEMRush .

Pricing: Free seven-day trials are available for all three tiers. Individual plans cost $29 per month. Business plans cost $49 per month. Enterprise and agency plans cost $99 per month. Add-ons are available at $5 each. Lifetime memberships are also available.

25. Pew Research Center

From economic conditions to political attitudes, social media usage to food science, the Pew Research Center website has loads of free research that you can use to better understand your target markets.

Be careful with your curiosity, though. It’s a gorgeous trap of interesting information that can drain your day away — but so happily.

I that Pew Research Center integrates visual data directly into the text — and we’re not talking about a chart or image spliced in.

The site has hundreds of interactive articles that allow you to filter and sift through the data for more granular, targeted insights while also making dense information easier to understand.

Their research topic selection is delightfully vast. Click the top left tab for “ Research Topics.” Then, there is a link to their “ Full Topic List .” Once there, each topic cluster has a “ More ” option.

What I like: As a writer in digital marketing, I am always on the hunt for targeted and nutritious quotes and insights. I love that you have access to what research participants actually had to say below the Pew Research articles.

It’s a stellar feature for building compelling presentations. The quotes are tagged, too, so you can sort quotes more specifically on various concepts or groups related to the research.

Here’s an example article — scroll to the In Their Own Words section at the bottom to check it out.

26. SocialMention (Part of BrandMentions)

SocialMention is a part of BrandMentions focused on social media monitoring. The platform helps you understand what your prospective customers are buzzing about online.

Search for a keyword, and SocialMentions will show you recent social posts that contain that keyword, along with the context of its usage.

After subscribing to the platform, you’ll also get other metrics such as Reach (how many people view the keyword per day), Performance (how many people engage with the keyword per day), and Mentions by Weekday (when people mention the keyword).

One way to use this tool for market research is by finding out what time of day or night people are looking for your product on social media sites.

Let’s say you’ve developed a sleeping aid app and learn through SocialMention that most people look for sleeping aid apps at 2:00 AM. When you start announcing your product, you will need to schedule your post around 2:00 AM.

Pro tip: Another useful tool you’ll have access to is sentiment analysis on your keywords. It allows you to find out how people are generally feeling about the type of product you’re launching.

That way, you can refine the tone of your campaigns.

Pricing: Growing business plans cost $79 per month. Company plans cost $249 per month. Enterprise and agency plans cost $399 per month. All prices are billed annually.

27. Qualtrics Market Research Panels

Qualtrics takes away the hassle of finding respondents for your market research surveys. They provide an online sample service so you can access real, live human thoughts without having to actually manage any humans.

It’s an introverted marketer’s dream come true!

Once you’ve identified your target audience, head on over to Qualtrics and sign up to access a representative sample.

You can then use Qualtrics’ built-in platform to start gathering insights and information from the people whose pain points you might be able to help solve.

Pro tip: You can actually choose between Qualtrics’ built-in platform or using your own chosen survey software . Sometimes, you’re already familiar and comfy with one system or need to hustle with a program you know — Qualtrics lets you pick.

28. ProProfs Qualaroo

Qualaroo is an advanced user and market research tool that helps you understand your specific market with targeted surveys.

You can run surveys on over six channels at once — such as website, app, product, social media, and email — to get a 360-degree view of your existing and potential customers.

It comes packed with features like question branching, 12+ answer types, automatic survey language translation, in-depth audience targeting, pre-built survey templates, and an extensive repository of professionally designed questions.

You can create various market research surveys in minutes to collect data on the demographic, psychographic, and behavioral traits of your target audience.

It can help you map customers’ expectations and preferences, create customer personas, and perform audience segmentation.

Qualaroo also promotes quick feedback analysis. Its in-built AI-based sentiment analysis and text analytics engine automatically categorizes the responses based on user moods.

It also highlights the key phrases and words in real time, saving hours of manual work.

What we like: In my experience, you can get an awful lot done with just this one source for conducting market research. I like it for its rare combination of tool inclusivity and affordable pricing — it’s definitely a solid source to start with.

Pricing: Omni channel plans for up to 50 responses are free. Omni channel plans for businesses up to 100 responses cost $19.99 per month, billed annually. Email surveys up to 50 responses are free.

Email surveys for businesses up to 100 responses cost $9.99 per month, billed annually.

Conduct Market Research for a Successful Product Launch

Conducting market research is essential to a successful product launch to market.

With the tools I’ve just introduced you to, you can find out who’s looking for your product, why they need it, and how you can better market whatever you’re looking to launch.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in April 2016 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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