Best Free and Low Cost Market Research Ideas

These are the best free and low cost ways to conduct market research. We are always updating this article to share new ideas.

Ways to save money on market research

Do it yourself. We'll teach you how.
Hire freelancers instead of market research agencies.
Conduct surveys online instead of mailing letters or postcards.
Run several smaller surveys vs. one large one. Many of the top online survey tool companies offer limited versions of their software for free but they limit the number of responses.
Choose a type of research called "qual-quant" research. It's a type of research that blends the benefits of both qualitative and quantitative techniques using online software. This approach saves both money and time by not conducting focus groups and then following that with a quantitative survey.
Host focus groups in your office or other conference rooms you can use for free. Many local banks will let their customers use their conference rooms to host focus groups and so may the local Chamber of Commerce.

If you're asking ten questions or less and only want responses from 100 people, you can use the software and tools for several of the Top Online Survey Suppliers to conduct your market research survey. You won't have all the "bells and whistles" these companies offer but it will be free. They do this as a way to demonstrate their software tools and to get you to invest time to learn how to use their site and software.
Add a market research survey to your website. That can be as easy as including a link for someone to send you an email with their feedback on what they like and don't like or what they think about a new product or service you're offering. Or, you can include a link to a market research survey you've set up with an online market research supplier Just know if you're doing this for free, you will be limited to less than 100 responses.
Go talk to people at events, trade shows, stores or other places where people are out and about and may be willing to answer a few questions.
Post some questions as a reporter on sites like HARO (Help a Reporter Out) or at online forums and groups on sites like LinkedIn.
Google Analytics is an incredible free tool Google offers to help people analyze websites. Web Analytics explains more about these tools and how they're used.

Conduct 1:1 interviews yourself by going to meet people at their home or office or intersecting them at a store.
- If you do this at a store, you'll need to get permission from the store manager generally to do this. If you're selling products in their store, they'll generally let you do this. Look for a nearby coffee shop to invite the person to talk to you (if you want more than a few minutes of their time) or talk to them at the store.
- If you're asking more than a few questions, you may need to give each person what the market research industry calls an "incentive" in exchange for their time. That's generally easiest to do with some type of gift card they receive after they spend 30 minutes to an hour talking with you.
  If you're talking to B2B customers you'll be expected to offer more ($50 to $100) for their time.
- People may be more honest with you if you don't say you work at the company conducting the research.
- Learn more about 1:1 interviews, a type of Qualitative Market Research

TIP: After you've established rapport and trust with the person you are interviewing, ask them for their permission to videotape a "highlights of key insights" from your discussion together. Or ask them for a tour of their home or office that you can videotape. Get them to explain how they use your product or service on video. That will help you and others at your company (and any people working on marketing or PR) better understand your customers. Ask them how they describe your product or service or company to someone else. Get that on video. That's generally very insightful.

Conduct focus groups yourself
- Focus groups are discussion groups made up of six to eight participants with a research moderator whose role is to guide the discussion. Typically these are done in a research facility with one-way mirrors for clients to watch. They can also be done in offices, conference rooms, trade shows or restaurants and bars.
- You can save money by hosting a focus group at your office.
- Or, if you sell to a large company or business, you may be able to ask them if you can talk to several of their employees in one of their conference rooms. Conducting the focus group on their site saves those customers travel time coming to meet you and you can use their conference room for free. Your only cost then may be the food or a small thank you gift to the participants.
- Focus Group How to Guide

From our experience: some business owners and company employees are excellent at hosting focus groups and interviewing customers 1:1 but many are not. It's mainly an issue of whether the person who owns the company or works there has the curiosity, empathy and ability to listen and learn (like someone conducting a documentary) vs. wanting to sell, explain and/or give rationale for decisions. Professional market research moderators (what the market research industry calls the people who do the interviews) are like non-judgmental reporters. They are curious and can guide a discussion naturally so it feels like a conversation vs. a survey being given face-to-face.

Social Media Monitoring. This involves listening, learning and analyzing what people share and say about companies, products, brands, competitors on sites like Facebook, Yelp, MySpace, LinkedIn, CraigsList, YouTube, Twitter and all the hundreds of sites where people can post reviews and comments and participate in online forums. Some tools to do this are free; others that aggregate comments from many sources (and save you time), have a minimal fee to use.
- Social Media Monitoring How-to Guide

Conduct customer satisfaction surveys online
- Top Online Survey Suppliers
- Conducting the research online saves money by not printing and mailing letters or postcards. How to Conduct a Customer Satisfaction Survey

Hire a freelancer with expertise in conducting focus groups to create your discussion guide, recruit participants, moderate the groups and summarize the findings.

Hire a freelancer with expertise in quantitative market research surveys to manage your customer satisfaction, ad testing or other research.

Best Sources for Marketing Freelancers

What's the best ROI for market research generally?

Messaging research is generally your best ROI on market research since how you message (describe) your products, service or company is used in all sales and marketing materials and activities (PR, websites, brochures, sales presentations, etc. Learn more about Messaging Research
Packaging research if you're selling at retail and counting on the packaging to create interest in your product and "close the sale" by offering the most persuasive information. Learn more about Pack Design and research methods to help you create the most effective packaging.
"Qual-quant" research that blends the benefits of both qualitative and quantitative techniques using online software. Market Research Methods
Ad testing if you have a large media budget you want to be sure that your ad is as persuasive and compelling as it can be.
Mystery shopping can be very insightful to understand customer experiences (and frustrations and obstacles) when calling a company, going online or going into a store or office or hospital. Mystery Shopping How-to Guide

Know this: a huge disadvantage of doing any type of market research yourself is that you won't have the accumulated knowledge and perspective professional market research company will have from years of conducting market research for other companies to the same target audience or for similar type of products. They'll know what's "normal" and what isn't.

How-to guides on market research

See all Market Research How-to Guides

Top Online Survey Suppliers
Top Market Research Suppliers
Ad Testing
Customer Satisfaction Surveys - how to create effective surveys with actionable results. Recommendations on what questions to ask.
How to Find Market Research Participants
Market Research Screeners - how to qualify people before you ask them questions
Mystery Shopping - how it works, how you can do this yourself or hire experts

Best Free and Low Cost Market Research Ideas

for small businesses