100+ Market Research Questions To Ask Your Target Audience

Before we learn about market research questions, how about a coke?

Coca-Cola, from classic coke to their famous diet Coke, is a success. No doubt. But they’ve had their share of failures too.

One of these failures happened because of poor market research. Coca-Cola’s highly ambitious product, C2, which was half regular and half diet coke, tanked badly, as they didn’t ask the right questions to the right audience during market research.

According to the Coca-Cola market research surveys, Coca-Cola lost upwards of $50 million on C2, and we don’t want something similar happening to one of your products. That’s why we focus on market research questions that’ll get the right responses to scale your business to better heights. 

Here’s a snippet of what we’ll further discuss in this article.

• What are market research questions
• 100+ Market research questions
• How to write market research questions
• Benefits of market research questions
• Tools for conducting market research

What are Market Research Questions?

The main intent of market research is to understand customers and competitors, but ultimately, the market as a whole. This is done by asking the right set of questions. These are what market research questions are. 

There are three main types of survey questions that are used in market research to acquire relevant and precise data. They are as follows. 

• Demographic - These gather all the basic information about the customers.
• Behavioral - These questions explore how customers interact with products/services.
• Psychographic - These shine a light on the interests, attitudes, and lifestyles of the respondents. 

If you are interested in understanding a bit more about what a market research survey might look like, here is something for you. The following is a sample template from SurveySparrow. 

Product Market Research Survey

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Use This Template

There are more such (1000+) templates available with SurveySparrow - all for free. You just have to sign up (also, for free). 

100+Market Research Survey Questions to Use

Here we are now – the 100+ most effective market research questions that deliver outstanding results when used in research surveys. We’ve split these questions into eleven categories so you can pick the right ones at the right time.

1. New Product Survey Questions
2. New Business Survey Questions
3. Competition Analysis Survey Questions
4. Questions For Your Existing Customers
5. Questions To Improve Customer Service
6. Market Research Questions for Startups
7. Marketing Survey Questions for Customers
8. Marketing Research Survey Questionnaire on Cosmetics
9. Restaurant Market Research Survey Questions
10. B2B Market Research Questions
11. Market Research Questions for Food Products

These marketing research questions can be open-ended, multiple-choice, or scale-based questions as per your data requirements.

Did you know  that you can now generate an entire survey from scratch within seconds? Yes, you heard it right!

SurveySparrow now offers an AI feature that allows you to create tailored surveys from scratch and that too within seconds. Just add in your prompt and the tool will do the rest.

Here's a sneak peek into how the feature works. 

Market Research Questions for a New Product

A new product launch is where most market research happens. As exciting as it sounds, it can cause a massive failure if the new product ain’t what the target audience wants it to be.

To understand that, here are market research survey questions you can ask.

1. How excited are you about our upcoming product? Would you be willing to test it?
2. Is the product solving your problem accurately?
3. What change do you wish to bring to this product?
4. If given the responsibility, how would you go about promoting it?
5. How much would the competitors charge for a product like this?
6. On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely are you to purchase this product once it’s available?
7. What features or benefits of the product stand out the most to you?
8. Do you have any concerns or hesitations about the product?
9. In comparison to products you currently use or are familiar with, how does our product fare?
10. Which marketing channels (e.g., social media, email, TV, etc.) would you most likely notice information about this product?

Market Research Questions for New Business

When you’re about to enter a new business or market opportunity, it always works well, too.

• Research the audience you’ll target
• The competition you’ll face
• The market size of this new opportunity
• The buying behavior of your target group

These are examples of market research questions for new businesses.

11. Who are the groups or groups that’ll buy from us?
12. How big is the market for this opportunity? Will it sustain or shrink in the long run?
13. How can we capitalize on customers’ buying habits/behaviors in this market??
14. How are our direct or indirect competitors doing their business in this market?
15. What are the problems we’ll solve for our target groups here?
16. What differentiates our business or offering from existing competitors in the market?
17. Which marketing channels most effectively reach our target audience in this new market?
18. Are there any cultural, regional, or demographic factors we should know when entering this market?
19. What regulatory or compliance challenges might we face in this specific market?
20. How open is the target audience to trying a new product or service in this category?

Competitive Analysis Questions

Let’s face it. Whatever your business is, there are competitors. Some are big, some are small, but competition is there, and when you’re keeping tabs on them by asking the right market research questions from your teams and customers, you stay ahead of the curve!

Here are some good market research questions for competition analysis.

21. What do you like the most about our (competitor’s name) product?
22. Are you content with their product pricing?
23. Where do you think our brand stands compared to (competitor’s name)?
24. Do you like the way they market and advertise their products?
25. What sets (competitor’s name) apart? Is it their product, service, user experience, content, or anything else?
26. Which features or benefits of (competitor’s name) do you wish our product/service offered?
27. Have you ever experienced any issues or challenges with (competitor’s name) product/service?
28. How do you perceive the customer service or support provided by (competitor’s name)?
29. If you could change one thing about (competitor’s name) offering, what would it be?
30. How often do you consider switching from (competitor’s name) to another brand or solution? What would motivate that switch?

Questions For Your Existing Customers

When you and your teams are working on a new product or service or want to bring changes to the existing ones, it’s always best to know your customer’s opinions about it because you want to deliver what they want and the changes that’ll take their satisfaction levels with your brand to the next level.

Check out these research questions for your customers.

31. What changes would improve our product for you?
32. Are you facing any consistent issues where you think we can help?
33. Do you think our services can improve? If so, we would love to know how.
34. Would you buy our products/services at a higher price if we added additional features to them?
35. How can we improve our products to enhance your overall experience?
36. How would you rate your overall satisfaction with our product/service on a scale from 1-10?
37. If you’ve contacted our customer support, how was your experience, and what can we do better?
38. Are there other products or services you wish we offered?
39. How frequently do you use our product/service, and are there any challenges during its use?
40. What’s the one thing you love the most about our product/service and one thing you dislike?

Questions To Improve Customer Service

If you thought market research and market research questions were only about new products, new business opportunities, insights from existing customers, and competitor analysis, think again!

Market research has always been about improving according to your customers, target audience, and employee insights. Your customer experience always needs review and timely improvements, and a market research survey backed with the right market research questions would help you big time here.

So, let’s look at some examples of research questions that you can ask about your customer service.

41. After raising your query, how much time did our customer service representative take to reply?
42. Did our customer service representative directly give you the solution or explain why the issue occurred in the first place?
43. How convenient is it for you to reach our customer representative and head?
44. Do you wish our customer service team to be available on any other channels apart from the ones they are?
45. Do you get consistent customer experience on all channels from our service team?
46. On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your overall experience with our customer service team?
47. Were our customer service representatives friendly and empathetic to your concerns?
48. Did you feel like our team valued your time and was efficient in their assistance?
49. Would you say that the solution provided was satisfactory and met your expectations?
50. How likely are you to contact our customer service again for future queries or concerns?

Now that you are familiar with market research questions, why not design a survey seamlessly using our ready-to-use templates?

Register below with your email for free access.

Market Research Questions for Startups

The digital world has opened up possibilities for new products and services, thereby giving inceptions to startups. However, in order for any startup to survive in this cutthroat market, it has to provide something unique…something the customers are willing to pay. 

How can you know that? Well, try including the following questions in your market research and understand what your customers’ pain points are

51. What is the one pain point that really gets you frustrated?
52. Is anyone offering solutions to tackle your challenges?
53. If we were to provide you with a solution, what’s the specific feature you want to see?
54. What’s your primary source for finding new products/services?
55. How likely are you to switch from your current provider to ours if we provide better solutions?
56. What are your main concerns when purchasing from a startup?
57. What are the factors that influence you to try new products/services?
58. How can we improve/optimize our offerings for a greater customer experience?

Marketing Survey Questions for Customers

These questions are more tailored to understand exactly what your potential customers' preferences and expectations are. Understanding this would help you improve your offerings and attract more customers. 

Here are some questions you can ask. 

59. What are the factors that influence your purchase decisions?
60. How did you first hear about us?
61. What motivated you to try out our products/services?
62. How satisfied are you with our products/services?
63. Do you follow us on any of our social media accounts?
64. What additional features do you want to see in our products/services?
65. How would you rate your interactions with our customer service representatives?
66. What motivated you to switch brands?
67. On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to purchase from us again?
68. How do you perceive our pricing compared to others? 

Marketing Research Survey Questionnaire on Cosmetics

This questionnaire delves into the cosmetics industry, exploring why customers choose one product or brand over another. It can also offer insight into consumer behavior and new ideas for products.

69. How often do you buy cosmetics products?
70. Rank the following cosmetics products to your importance.
71. What are the factors that influence you when choosing a brand?
72. Is brand reputation important when choosing a product?
73. What are your top concerns when it comes to selecting a cosmetics product?
74. What packaging factors are important to you?
75. How likely are you to try out new cosmetics brands?
76. How do you feel about sustainability practices in cosmetics products?
77. What kind of promotions attract you?
78. Where do you typically purchase cosmetics products from?
79. How satisfied are you with the variety of cosmetic products currently available in the market?

Restaurant Market Research Survey Questions

As the heading indicates, this set of questions is tailored for restaurants. Restaurant owners can collect customer feedback on their preferences, dining habits, interests, and more. 

Here are some tailored questions for you. 

80. How do you dine out at restaurants?
81. What are the factors that influence your decision to choose restaurants?
82. What type of cuisine do you prefer when dining at a restaurant?
83. Does ambiance play a role when choosing a restaurant?
84. What prompts you to try out a new restaurant?
85. How do you find new restaurants to dine at?
86. Which restaurant you visited recently offered the best experience?
87. Does parking experience play a role when choosing a restaurant?
88. How would you rate the pricing at our restaurant compared to others?
89. How likely are you to recommend us to your family and friends?  

Market Survey Questionnaire Sample

These are general questions asked during market research to measure customer satisfaction, loyalty, and expectations. 

Some questions are - 

90. How satisfied are you with the current products/services we provide?
91. What do you value the most in our offerings?
92. What’s your major consideration when choosing a product/service?
93. How can we improve your experience with us?
94. How would you rate the quality of our customer service?
95. What prompted you to choose us over others?
96. How much are you willing to spend on this product/service?
97. How often do you use our product/service?
98. How do you prefer to learn about our new products/services?
99. What’s your perception of our brand compared to those of our competitors?
100. How likely are you to recommend us to your friends and family?

B2B Market Research Questions

This questionnaire focuses on understanding business clients rather than general customers. As you can see, these will be very helpful for B2B companies in improving their offerings and attracting more clients. 

101. What are the challenges your business currently faces that need to be addressed immediately?
102. How satisfied are you with the solutions we provided?
103. What are the factors you look into when choosing a vendor?
104. On a scale of 1-5, how satisfied are you with the current vendors?
105. What’s your preferred channel of communication with vendors?
106. What additional products/services would you like to see from us?
107. What trends do you see impacting your industry in the coming years?
108. How do you measure your success with a particular vendor?

Market Research Questions for Food Products

You can use this set of questions if you want insights into consumer preferences, diet habits, attitudes towards food products, and so on. 

Here are the questions you can ask. 

109. Are there any dietary habits or restrictions you currently follow?
110. How often do you purchase food products?
111. What kind of food products do you purchase often?
112. What are the factors that influence choosing a food product brand?
113. How likely are you to try out new food products?
114. How do you feel about the nutritional information provided on the packaging?
115. How do you find new food products to try out?

How to Write Market Research Questions

Here are ten tested tips to create a perfect market research survey that gets results. Make full use of it.To create the perfect market research survey:

• Define the problem you’ll solve with it.  Don’t just conduct market research, hoping to get actionable data.
• Select the right target group. You do not want to collect irrelevant data that’s of no use. So, for a particular problem, select the right people.
• Know your sample size. Whether your method is cluster sampling, quotas, systematic sampling, or purposive sampling, figure out the number of survey responses you’ll need for reliable data and keep a safety margin for half-filled or not-responded surveys.
• Select focused questions. Use these twenty-five questions the best you can. You can also check out our go-to guide on how to write better survey questions.
• Use interactive question types – like voice notes, image choice, video backgrounds, and graphical sliders. This will massively increase your response rates.
• Give incentives like free e-books gift cards. This can give respondents the extra encouragement they need to complete the survey.
• Keep it conversational. Market research surveys work when they are treated with the same care and warmth as a conversation. So, build that trust with the tone of your questions.
• Don’t send the survey to all the respondents at once. Send it to a small batch first. Analyze how they answer, make changes if needed, and then go for the full-scale market research.
• Set times for reminders. You don’t want to speed up at the wrong time.
• And last, give enough time for analysis. Specific survey tools can save time with auto-generated survey reports that you can customize.

8 Benefits of Market Research: What Makes it So Important?

While we were explaining market research and market research questions, we mentioned one of its biggest benefits too. The benefit that makes it absolutely important for any business is gunning for long-term and sustained growth.

Guessed it? Well, it’s the benefit of getting rich insights from your target audience. But that’s not the only benefit.

Yes, market research offers a lot more than you can think of. And it’s time we discuss them one by one.

#1. Know Your Business Better

When you get customer and target market feedback about a product or service, you see the difference between your and your customer’s opinions. Observing this difference allows you to bridge that down by aligning the new or existing product based on their wants.

So, when you use the right market research questions in your survey, you get to observe your company through the target audience’s lens, allowing you to better understand the business and its goals.

#2. Get More Business Opportunities

While conducting a market research survey, you often find or realize a new opportunity or avenue where the company can thrive. This realization comes when you analyze the collected survey data and see your target market’s interest in this new opportunity.

#3. Discover New Customer Segments To Target

“The product has come out well. I want to use it, and I think the Genz’s would like it too.”

If the answer to one of your market research questions is something like this, you and your teams know they have a new customer segment to target. That’s a powerful benefit of conducting a well-planned market research survey that contains the right questions.

#4. Massively Reduce The Risk Of Failing

With market research or market research surveys, you don’t just get to know the insights and opinions of your target audience on a certain product, you also come to understand areas where it’s severely lacking and can cause a failure if not duly addressed.

Also, with a few well-crafted market research questions, you get to know the areas where your business is lacking. And if you’re working on those, the chances of your business going under are reduced massively.

#5. Understand Where And How To Market

By using the right market research questions in your surveys, you understand where and how your customers and target group want your teams to market a product.

Give your survey respondents the freedom to express themselves, and you’ll get gold out of your market research. Believe us on that!

#6. Track Your Competition

While conducting market research, you can’t forget about your competitors. As a leader, you need to stay on top of proceedings regarding your competitors and their products. 

Your teams need to have answers to questions like what new they are bringing, what their new campaign is like, what they are focusing on at the moment, and many more.

What better way to do that than to ask these subtly by including the right market research questions? Trust us; you’ll get massive information about your competition with these surveys, allowing you to pivot and do better.

#7. Identify New Trends

Scanning the internet for new trends is an absolutely time-consuming process. You can replace that with market research and market research surveys to stay updated and well-informed on what your customers want. Analyzing new trends can be done successfully with digital marketing training. The process of obtaining information becomes effective.

If not anything, it’ll save your teams a lot of time, which they can use for other important tasks.

#8. Predict The Future

To sum up all the benefits we’ve mentioned, you’ll be able to predict the future of your products, services, and even your business after knowing your customer’s insights and opinions on it. That’ll give you the chance and the freedom to bring the right changes at the right time. Ain’t that impressive?

Reliable Tools for Conducting Market Research

You now know the twenty-five top market research questions to include. But how can you add these questions to a market research survey and send it? What are the different tools you could use for it?

If you have these questions, with no further ado, get your answers here.

A Full-Action Survey Software

There is nothing better than using survey software to conduct market research surveys. Period. But why? Well, survey software is the best way to gather reliable information quickly from your customers and employees about your existing or new products. 

These surveys would give clarity about your potential and target customers and buyer persona, and the solid feedback you’ll receive will help you strategize and do better eventually.

If you’re looking to use survey software for your research surveys, look no further than SurveySparrow. This Typeform alternative allows you to create engaging forms and surveys with no hassle. These surveys are conversational, easy to use, and completely secure. 

More importantly, it offers features like likert scale questions, interactive dashboards, customization, embedded surveys, recurring surveys, and so much more. And you can use all these features in the 14-Day free trial itself.

Our friendly suggestion: Don’t miss out on this!

Chatbots for the Website

Chatbots are the future of market research, no doubt on that. As per a study, by 2024, the global market for chatbots is projected to be over $994 million. That’s some number! Thousands of brands are implementing or have implemented chatbots in their everyday business task. 

From doing market research to tracking and answering customer’s queries, chatbots are everywhere.

Do you know what’s the best thing about a chatbot? It’s that it makes a customer’s or employee’s journey more enjoyable, as the conversations are natural and human-like. 

In addition, a chatbot will always ask a follow-up question to your customers just like a human mostly does. And this helps in market research. 

How? By making sure you and your teams are always up to date about what your customers want and what their expectations are from your products, services, and support.

SurveySparrow’s no-code Feedbot is made to gather insightful market data with no programming knowledge. Deloitte Digital, a San Francisco-based marketing and advertising company, de-cluttered its data collection process using SurveySparrow’s Feedlot. 

The company was facing challenges while collecting market data with the paper questionnaire format. However, the chat-like experience and interactive UI of Feedbot helped them gather 804 survey responses out of 1200 surveyed people. That’s a 67% completion rate. Market research conducted most profitably, isn’t it?

360 Degree Feedback Software

You can spend all your dollars on your customers to make them stay, but without your employees’ efforts, it just won’t happen. When we talk about market research, the first thing that comes in our mind is the customers. 

We want to conduct market research to gain knowledge about customer preferences, insights, and opinions. But, what about employee research to find their satisfaction levels?

In recent times, employee satisfaction and experience have both become popular and crucial topics. Because, no matter the industry, people like to do business with other people. And satisfied employees are the most real, and simple people to attract customers and keep them engaged.

That’s why it’s important to use a 360-degree feedback tool like SurveySparrow’s 360-degree feedback solution. With this, you can conduct an employee assessment (research) to increase their satisfaction levels and drive growth. 

Trust us, you need to conduct such assessments, especially in this new normal.

Let’s Begin!

There you have it, then. You now know the benefits of market research, twenty-five different questions to include in the market research survey, tools to conduct these surveys, and, as a bonus, highly effective tips to create the perfect market research survey.

The only thing that’s left now is for you to use these questions and start conducting market research surveys. SurveySparrow and its marketing experience solution can make this process a lot easier, effective, and the least time-consuming for you and your teams. 

So, check it out, and we’re just this click away if you need help. Waiting to hear from you. Au revoir!