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Market research: possible to get low cost/free interviews?

by amybutton
7 replies
I'm writing a business plan (for a basic consumer product, I don't want to give too much away at this stage) to apply for a loan but I'm missing the market research. I don't have much money at this stage so looking at surveymonkey, and similar, but responses can be biased as you're basically just posting the link on forums and hoping people fill the survey in properly. So ideally I need a service that gets a more random, unbiased set of data, but still using a SurveyMonkey free/cheap model. Anyone have any recommendations, assuming this is even possible? Thanks
#cost or free #free #interviews #low #low cost #market #market research #research
  • Profile picture of the author gjabiz
    Originally Posted by amybutton View Post

    I'm writing a business plan (for a basic consumer product, I don't want to give too much away at this stage) to apply for a loan but I'm missing the market research. I don't have much money at this stage so looking at surveymonkey, and similar, but responses can be biased as you're basically just posting the link on forums and hoping people fill the survey in properly. So ideally I need a service that gets a more random, unbiased set of data, but still using a SurveyMonkey free/cheap model. Anyone have any recommendations, assuming this is even possible? Thanks
    You want to get a loan
    for a business
    offering a consumer product

    And you are writing a business plan.

    And you CAN'T find any information about why people use this product, where it is currently being sold, by whom, for how much...to how many people?

    WHY?

    Why are you seemingly going after a market with a product you apparently know nothing about and using surveys for consumer products has been proven (for the most part) to be useless UNLESS

    YOU offer a real life simulation where the focus groups has the option of actually buying the product, otherwise, they say anything.

    Maybe, giving you the benefit of the doubt here, you are a little more organized than this post makes you appear.

    gjabiz
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve B
    Just thinking off the top of my head here . . .

    Pay for your respondents by finding them using keywords that would simulate their real-life interests or situations.

    I realize you said you didn't have a lot of money for this, but I think it could be done relatively cheaply (a few hundred dollars maybe?).

    You could still use SurveyMonkey. You may have to provide some incentive for folks to take the survey (but that's also done to get people to sit in on focus groups).

    Steve
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    Steve Browne, online business strategies, tips, guidance, and resources
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  • Profile picture of the author solosolutions
    Go to Facebook groups that cater to people in your target demographic

    Post your survey there

    You can also try LinkedIn groups

    Make sure the survey is short though.......

    Also make sure you use an attention-grabbing headline.
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    • Profile picture of the author jerseygirl1977
      Try contacting local businesses that are in the same industry but not direct competitors. They may be willing to talk to you. Also try any local meetup groups where you can network with individuals.
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  • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
    I would suggest you pick up a copy of Pat Flynn's newest book, "Will It Fly?"

    The two sections on researching the market and the customers in that market are worth the price of the book several times over. The methods given won't tax your budget; most of them are free, requiring only thought and some time spent doing the work.
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  • Profile picture of the author amybutton
    Thank you very much for your replies - it sounds like there isn't a surveymonkey equivalent with the necessary targeting that I wanted, but you've definitely given me some interesting alternatives that I need to look into. Thank you again everyone )
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  • Profile picture of the author TomasRed
    I don’t mean to be rude, but have you just tried googling and looking closely at alternatives to SurveyMonkey? I know that all the survey websites are quite similar, but if you hunt around a bit you might be able to find two or three websites that together will give you what you need. I just tried searching for ‘free survey’ and ‘free market research’ and got:
    zoho.com
    numbuzzresearch.com
    esurveycreator.com
    sogosurvey.com
    And that’s just a random few I picked off the first pages.
    Have you REALLY taken a good look at these?
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