Market research survey: A how-to guide with examples

Some of my favorite recurring "Saturday Night Live" bits are the focus group sketches, where a beleaguered product rep tries fruitlessly to lead a group through a product testing scenario—with great difficulty, because at least one of the testers winds up being patently bananas. (My personal favorite is this Charmin sketch, featuring James McAvoy's frankly flawless Philly accent.)

After watching a few of those sketches, you can imagine why real-life focus groups tend to be pretty small. Even without any over-the-top personalities involved, it's easy for these groups to go off the rails.

So what happens when you want to collect market research at a larger scale? That's where the market research survey comes in. Market surveys allow you to get just as much valuable information as an in-person interview, without the burden of herding hundreds of rowdy Eagles fans through a product test.

Table of contents:

• What is a market research survey?

• Why conduct market research?

• 5 types of market research surveys

• Market research survey methods

• How to write and conduct a market research survey

• Top market research survey companies to work with

• Tips for running a market research survey

• Market research survey question format guide

• Use automation to put survey results into action

What is a market research survey?

A market research survey is a questionnaire designed to collect key information about a company's target market and audience that will help guide business decisions about products and services, branding angles, and advertising campaigns. Gathering direct feedback from potential customers helps businesses uncover trends, preferences, and pain points that might not be apparent through other data sources.

Market research vs. marketing research

While often used interchangeably, market research and marketing research have bigger differences than an "-ing."

Market research focuses on gathering data to help businesses better serve their customers, reach new audiences, and improve their offerings and products. It's a broader approach centered on the overall customer experience. 

Marketing research focuses on identifying data to support the marketing team's efforts, specifically around the four P's of marketing:

• Product: Determining valuable product or service features for customers

• Pricing: Assessing if the current price aligns with customer perception

• Place: Evaluating the availability of the product through desired purchase channels

• Promotion: Identifying the most effective advertising forms and delivery channels

Marketing teams use marketing research to improve packaging, refine messaging, optimize pricing, and deliver effective advertising. Market research is a wider form of data collection, while marketing research zooms in on specific strategies and tactics.

Primary vs. secondary market research

Market surveys are what's known as "primary research"—that is, information that the researching company gathers firsthand. Secondary research consists of data that another organization gathered and published, which other researchers can then use for their own reports. Primary research is more expensive and time-intensive than secondary research, which is why you should only use market research surveys to obtain information that you can't get anywhere else. 

A market research survey can collect information on your target customers':

• Priorities

• Beliefs

• Experiences

• Preferences, desires, and needs

• Habits

• Values and motivations

The types of information that can usually be found in a secondary source, and therefore aren't good candidates for a market survey, include your target customers':

• Demographic data

• Consumer spending data

• Household size

• Income

• Education

• Career

Lots of this secondary information can be found in a public database like those maintained by the Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics. There are also a few free market research tools that you can use to access more detailed data, like Think with Google, Data USA, and Statista. Or, if you're looking to learn about your existing customer base, you can also use a CRM to automatically record key information about your customers each time they make a purchase.

If you've exhausted your secondary research options and still have unanswered questions, it's time to start thinking about conducting a market research survey.

Market research surveys vs. customer research surveys

Market research surveys and customer research surveys often use similar formats and methodologies, but they serve different purposes.

Market research surveys are about the bigger picture. They help you understand broader industry trends and opportunities, like target audience preferences, market demand, and competitor positioning. These surveys often go out to people who may not yet be customers but are just one market-research-survey-informed marketing campaign away from becoming one.

Customer research surveys (which are a subset of market research surveys) are focused on people who have already interacted with your brand, including current and past customers. Because the best source of intel on your products is people who actually have intel on your products, these surveys help you improve the experience, fix pain points, or shape future products based on real customer feedback. 

Here are a few examples of customer research surveys:

• Customer experience and loyalty surveys: Gather insights about the customer journey and identify pain points to improve satisfaction and create brand advocates.

• Net Promoter Score (NPS) surveys: Measure customer loyalty by asking how likely they are to recommend your business, providing valuable data for market positioning.

• Customer satisfaction (CSAT) surveys: Evaluate satisfaction with specific interactions or products, helping identify strengths and areas for improvement in your market offerings.

• Exit interview / churn reason / "Sorry to see you go" surveys: Uncover reasons customers leave, which can reveal competitive advantages your market competitors might have.

• Customer feedback surveys: Collect open-ended suggestions and complaints that can inform product development and market positioning strategies.

Why conduct market research?

Going to market without really understanding your market is like hopping on a boat and setting sail without checking the weather. You might get lucky, but chances are, you'll end up off course—or worse, stranded on a sinking ship. 

Market research helps take the guesswork out of decisions and gives you real insight into what people want, what your competition is doing, and where your biggest opportunities are. Here's why it's worth the investment:

• Get to know what people really want: Learn what your target audience values most so you can build your products or services around their wants and needs.

• Make confident, low-risk decisions: Use actual market feedback to guide your strategy rather than relying on assumptions or hunches.

• Spot growth opportunities: Find new market segments, product ideas, or service improvements you might have otherwise missed.

• Stay ahead of your competition: Keep tabs on what your competitors are doing and how you stack up against them. 

• Improve products and services: Gather feedback about what's working (and what's not) so you can make meaningful improvements to meet and exceed customer expectations.

• Get more out of your marketing: Fine-tune your messaging and reach the right people, maximizing your ROI on every campaign.

5 types of market research surveys

Depending on your goal, you'll need different types of market research. Here are five types of market research surveys to consider in your quest for TMI.

1. Buyer persona surveys

A buyer persona or customer profile is a simple sketch of the types of people that you should be targeting as potential customers. 

A buyer persona research survey will help you learn more about things like demographics, household makeup, income and education levels, and lifestyle markers. The more you learn about your existing customers, the more specific you can get in targeting potential customers. You may find that there are more buyer personas within your user base than the ones that you've been targeting.

2. Sales funnel surveys

The sales funnel is the path that potential customers take to eventually become buyers. It starts with the target's awareness of your product, then moves through stages of increasing interest until they ultimately make a purchase. 

With a sales funnel research survey, you can learn about potential customers' main drivers at different stages of the sales funnel. You can also get feedback on how effective different sales strategies are. Use this survey to find out:

• How close potential buyers are to making a purchase

• What tools and experiences have been most effective in moving prospective customers closer to conversion

• What types of lead magnets are most attractive to your target audience

3. Branding and marketing surveys

The Charmin focus group featured in that SNL sketch is an example of branding and marketing research, in which a company looks for feedback on a particular advertising angle to get a sense of whether it will be effective before the company spends money on running the ad at scale. Use this type of survey to find out:

• Whether a new advertising angle will do well with existing customers

• Whether a campaign will do well with a new customer segment you haven't targeted yet

• What types of campaign angles do well with a particular demographic

4. Product research and development surveys

Whereas the Charmin sketch features a marketing focus group, this one features new product research for a variety of new Hidden Valley Ranch flavors. Though you can't get hands-on feedback on new products when you're conducting a survey instead of an in-person meeting, you can survey your customers to find out:

• What features they wish your product currently had

• What other similar or related products they shop for

• What they think of a particular product or feature idea

Running a survey before investing resources into developing a new offering will save you and the company a lot of time, money, and energy.

5. Competitor research surveys

You can get a lot of information about your own customers and users via automatic data collection, but your competitors' customer base may not be made up of the same buyer personas that yours is. Survey your competitors' users to find out:

• Your competitors' customers' demographics, habits, and behaviors

• Whether your competitors have found success with a buyer persona you're not targeting

• Information about buyers for a product that's similar to one you're thinking about launching

• Feedback on what features your competitors' customers wish their version of a product had

Market research survey methods

The method you pick should match your goals, your audience, and how much time and money you're willing to spend. Whether you need a quick pulse check on a general consumer base (e.g., what are most people's sandwich garnishing preferences?) or deep insights from a niche group (e.g., do people who eat sandwiches with spicy pickles balance the flavor intensity with a rich, smooth ingredient like mayonnaise?), here's a menu of the most common market research types:

• Online surveys: Online surveys are a go-to for quickly reaching large audiences. They're great for collecting and analyzing data fast and at scale, though you might get fewer in-depth responses compared to more personal methods.

• In-person surveys: These offer rich, detailed feedback since you can ask follow-ups and use visuals, but they're also time-intensive and pricey. They're best for complex topics or smaller, focused groups.

• Mail-in surveys: These are good for reaching people who aren't online much, and they give respondents time to think through their answers. But they tend to have low response rates and take longer to collect.

• Phone surveys: These offer a personal touch and allow for immediate clarification, but they're often more expensive and can feel intrusive to some people. (If your product happens to be a student loan repayment scam, make that most people.)

• Text surveys: SMS surveys are fast, easy, and usually get high open rates. They're great for quick check-ins or short questions, but they aren't ideal for anything too detailed—or markets who only communicate in emoji.

• Panel surveys: Panels are made up of people who've agreed to take multiple surveys over time. They're useful for tracking trends or attitudes, but may not always reflect the general population.

How to write and conduct a market research survey

Running a strong market research survey takes more than just writing a few variations of "Would you buy this product?" then kicking back and letting the responses flow in. To get quality data you can actually use, you need the right goals, the right people, and the right partner. Here are the steps to make it all come together. 

Step 1: Define your goals

Before anything else, get clear on why you're running the survey. This could be anything from validating a product idea, testing a new market, or gauging brand awareness. Your goals will shape everything else—who you ask, what you ask, and how you interpret the answers.

This is also the time to think ahead. Ask yourself:

• What decisions will you make based on the results? 

• What insights would actually move the needle for your team? 

If a question doesn't tie back to a clear business objective, skip it.

Step 2: Identify your target audience

Once you know what you're trying to learn, define who you need to hear from—and be specific. Whether it's consumers in a certain age range, professionals in a particular industry, or people who fit a specific behavior profile (or gravitate toward a specific flavor profile in their sandwich toppings), getting this right is key to collecting relevant insights. 

Think about the demographics, job titles, or purchase behaviors that matter for your study. The narrower and more intentional your filters, the more useful your data will be.

Step 3: Choose the right survey provider

The right survey provider can help you get the most out of your market surveys. Some providers might focus on speed and scale while others are better suited for niche B2B audiences or highly targeted segments. Most charge per completed response, but pricing can vary based on the services they offer, like respondent targeting (based on your filters), survey programming, data cleaning, and result synthesis. 

Be sure to ask how they find participants, how they screen for specific demographics, and what's included in their end-to-end support. For example, some might use proprietary panels while others partner with third-party sources. The right partner should be able to handle your required filters and deliver clean, reliable data that fits your goals, timeline and budget.

Step 4: Develop your survey questions

This is where the real magic happens. Work with your provider to create clear, unbiased questions that will actually get you the insights you need. Most will help you fine-tune wording and structure, but coming in with a rough outline or draft will speed things up.

Include a mix of question types, such as: 

• Multiple choice

• Likert scales

• Rankings

• Open-ended response

Don't forget essential, key demographic questions—such as company size, job title, and location—that let you slice and dice your data later.

And remember to always ask yourself: "Will the answers to this question help us meet our goals?" If not, cut it.

Step 5: Test and launch

Before going live, many survey providers will do a small test run. This soft launch helps catch anything that could throw off your results, like confusing language, logic errors, technical issues, or questions that are consistently misinterpreted by respondents. 

For example, say you want to know specifics about communication tools and the survey asks, "What tools do you use to manage your team?" You might get several answers about project management platforms. A test run helps you revise the wording for clarity before sending the full survey.

This test also gives you an early look at how your targeting filters are working. If you're aiming for marketing directors at large enterprises and find that most early respondents are in junior-level roles, your provider can adjust the screening criteria to better hone in on the right audience. 

Once the test is complete and you're happy with the setup, the provider will launch the full survey and start collecting responses. They'll monitor responses in real time, watching for technical issues or inconsistent data.

For example, if someone answers that they don't use social media but later say they spend a few hours per day on Instagram, the provider can flag that response to maintain data quality. Many will also pause the survey if response rates dip or if certain segments aren’t responding evenly, helping you get balanced, high-quality results.

Step 6: Analyze and interpret the results

Once the responses are in, it's time to dig into the data. Most providers offer dashboards or visual reports to help you make sense of it all. If you're working with large data sets, this is a great time to bring in AI tools. They can quickly identify trends, flag anomalies, and help you find insights you might've missed on your own.

Still, don't just skim the surface. Look beyond the charts for surprising patterns, contradictions, or opportunities that tie back to your original goals. You can also connect your survey platform to other apps that make it easy to keep track of your results and turn them into actionable insights.

Top market research survey companies to work with

If you're thinking about partnering with a professional firm to help run your market research surveys, there are a few well-established names out there. Along with the big names, I've highlighted a few more reputable options that may be more accessible for smaller businesses. All these companies typically handle survey creation, audience targeting, distribution, and data analysis.

• Gartner: Provides industry research and survey services focused primarily on technology markets and digital transformation

• Ipsos: Offers market research services in areas like brand tracking, customer experience, and public opinion in over 90 countries

• Forrester: Conducts custom market research and consumer insights with a focus on the business impact of technology

• Kantar: Delivers data-driven insights on brands, media, and innovation to help businesses make smarter marketing decisions.

• Toluna: Provides fast, online survey solutions with a focus on real-time consumer insights and qualitative feedback.

But don't stop with this list. Depending on your industry, there might be a perfect-fit survey provider, so ask other folks in your network for recommendations.

Tips for running a market research survey

If you're not asking the right questions, or you're targeting the wrong people, the data you get will be about as helpful as a ship with no sails and more holes than a mini-golf course. These tips can help you and your survey provider run a smarter, more strategic survey that delivers the kind of clarity that turns data into revenue.

• Know your audience: Make sure you're surveying the right people. That might mean your competitors' customers, folks with a certain job title, or a specific community that matches your target market.

• Write questions that are clear and neutral: Avoid wording that nudges people toward a certain answer. Keep it simple and easy to understand.

• Pick the right question types: Use multiple choice, checkboxes, or yes/no for fast stats. Rankings or dropdowns help with preferences. For more detailed responses, try scales (like 1-5) or open-ended questions.

• Brainstorm ideal findings ahead of time: You can't control the responses you get, but knowing what type of information you want will help you ensure that the questions you're asking have the potential of getting you that information.

• Keep it short and focused: Aim for a survey that takes less than 10 minutes to complete. Stick to questions that will actually help guide decisions.

• Plan your timeline: Don't rush through it. Give yourself time to write, send, collect, and analyze. And try not to leave the survey open so long that the results go stale.

• Think about margin of error: You won't hear from everyone, so decide how much wiggle room you're comfortable with. A 3% margin of error at a 95% confidence level usually requires around 500 responses.

• Make surveys accessible to all: If you're running your survey online, it should work on phones and be screen-reader friendly. Use inclusive language and clear formatting.

• Consider offering incentives: A small reward—like a gift card or discount—can boost participation, especially for longer surveys or niche audiences.

Market research survey question format guide

If you're partnering with a research firm, they'll likely handle question design and formatting for you. But if you're running a survey on your own, or just want to better understand what goes into a well-structured questionnaire, here's a breakdown of common survey question types and when to use them.

Use this as a guide for building your own survey or just to get a clearer picture of how survey design works.

Use automation to put survey results into action

Once your research is underway, staying engaged throughout the process can make a big difference. Reviewing question drafts, flagging potential blind spots, and interpreting early findings with your team ensures the survey stays aligned with your goals. 

Even if you're partnering with a research firm, you can still streamline parts of the process on your end. Zapier can help automate tasks—whether you're gathering market intel, collecting customer feedback, or monitoring team sentiment. For example, you can automatically:

• Create tasks in your project management tool based on specific survey answers.

• Alert the right teammates when feedback needs immediate attention.

• Generate reports or dashboards when a survey closes.

• Segment respondents for follow-up messaging or deeper research.

Automating this kind of post-survey workflow helps ensure you act on your findings quickly and consistently so none of your hard-won insights fall through the cracks. See for yourself by building your own automated workflows with your favorite survey platforms and data collection tools.

Related reading:

• Poll vs. survey: What is a survey and what are polls?

• The best online survey apps

• The best free form builders and survey tools

• How to get people to take a survey

This article was originally published in June 2015 by Stephanie Briggs and has also had contributions from Cecilia Gillen and Jeremy Payton. The most recent update was in May 2025.