Top 11 Audience Research Tools

It’s a common quality across the board – people don’t like change. In fact, according to research, Americans buy the same 50 items, accounting for around 85% of household needs.

So, needless to say, you can get stuck between a rock and a hard place when you want someone to switch to your brand. If you’ve ever had a failed product launch, you can blame lack of research.

But mix in the right market research, you can determine if the opportunity is within reach, how you should display your specific service or product, and what your customer’s think of your newest launch. One of the best ways to make the most out of market research is to enlist the help of certain tools and researches.

The first one is Think With Google: Marketer’s Almanac. One of the best parts about this tool is that it’s completely free. It offers you a look from within your customer’s shoes. You can check out how consumer behavior is impacted by special situations, such as the season or holidays.  It’ll give you interesting – and useful – information regarding how people browse and why they buy.

Our second choice is American Fact Finder, which is yet another useful tool that can be used for free. If you want to quickly and easy search U.S. census data, this is the best way to do it. Not only is it bursting full of information, but you have the option to filter based on your needs. That means you can change it based on age, year, race, location and income.

The third helpful audience research tool is County Business Patterns. Yet another free tool, this one gives you information on specific areas within the country of large numbers in certain types of businesses. For example, you can pick the top 10 counties with the most real estate industries within Florida.

Another effective tool when it comes to audience research is Business Dynamics Statistics. This one is free and yet does all the work for you. It takes all census data and lays it out so you can see the data based on job creation, any startups or shutdowns, various openings and closings and even expansions.

FedStats, released by federal agencies, gives you a modern forum for finding various released data. You will find topics such as energy, education, agriculture and transportation here.

Or, on the flip side, if you want to find out more about a certain area’s demographics, Nielsen MyBestSegments is the way to go. You will get the various tools needed to completely understand a specific demographic and the various lifestyle habits that come along with it. You can use this to your company advantage by applying it to see who would be open to your campaign, if there are any competitors nearby and perhaps any changing trends.

If you’re looking to hear straight from audience members themselves SurveyMonkey may be the right choice for you. While it is free, you can upgrade your subscription for an additional cost. With this tool, you will be able to create detailed surveys, allowing you to completely understand the market, the customers, and the various preferences they have.

Much like SurveyMonkey, you can create one form field at a time with Typeform. Again, this is free for the basic version with various upgrades available. What this tool does is give viewers simply one form field at a time, with the option for you to include several image options. Not only is it easy to use, but it’s fantastic for gathering feedback.

If you want to have a form-building option, Survata is the one for you. With this one, you can decide on your target audience. No need to panic if you aren’t the best with marketing research – they have an entire staff waiting to answer any of your questions.

Want to get a feel for your competitor’s website? Loop11, a testing service, allows you to check them out. All you do is create a form, then ask people to take the test through your website.

Finally, Userlytics is another tool you will want to check out for audience research purposes. Giving you a platform, you’re able to test mobile apps, display ads, videos and more. You’re able to compare the answers with video reactions, allowing you to get a true interactive experience.