If you are reading this, it is most likely that you have taken a survey in the past, or maybe you found out that by taking surveys online, you can get some extra coffee money every month. And now, you want to figure out what all these surveys are being used for.
Alright, besides being fun (yes, they can be fun), surveys gather insights on almost endless topics, from helping a designer choose the next fabric design for bathing suits to aiding government officials in gauging popular opinions amongst its citizens. So with that being said, let's try to break down the market research industry in a non-boring way so you can get a much better understanding of how it all works.
Most of those creating the surveys fall under the following 5 categories.
- Consumer Products
- Investors
- Academia
- Non Profits
- Political Pollsters
Let's dive into each one and break it down further.
Consumer Products: As it sounds, this group falls under the Marketing and/or Research & Development team of products we all use. It can be consumer items used daily by average consumers that require routine replacement or replenishment, such as food, beverages, clothes, tobacco, makeup, and household products. Also, services, such as travel companies, restaurants, transportation, media, event management, and healthcare, fall under this category.
Investors - This group comprises two types of investors, those looking to gain insights about an industry and/or specific companies to help with the decision of investing in it or not. The other group is investors/founders looking at a potential startup idea but need more information before committing time, funds, and other resources.
Academia: These are your research universities and involve many topics. From economics and finance to anthropology and psychology and many other concentrations. Surveys are used to enhance studies and enrich them further with data, or in some cases, entirely used to decide the thesis direction.
Non Profits - These NGOs use research for 2 purposes: to better understand the cause they are working on and their impact. But, of course, understanding your impact also includes brand awareness, so marketing-specific research is also part of the mix.
Political Pollsters: The last group consists of researchers within the political sphere. These are sometimes the polls you see many times mentioned in the news. Also, these researchers conduct studies on specific political parties and candidates, political think tanks, and government lobbying firms.
Note that all these researchers use services like MultiPolls to reach their desired audience, so you can tap into their research needs by using such apps. At the same time, make money from it. It's a great partnership between researcher and user, benefiting all parties.
So there you have it, now you are more knowledgeable about the research industry and most likely better understand how you are contributing to many important decisions and studies. In addition, you will hopefully be able to identify the type of research you are doing and what it may be used for.