The differences between primary and secondary research
Marketing research can be done through primary and secondary research. In this article, you will understand the differences between both.
Whenever a business is being created, or innovation is taking place in an already existing company, marketing research is key. Moreover, because nowadays the world has been changing all the time, it’s important to have reliable sources to do marketing research.
This marketing research can happen through primary or secondary research. In this article, you will understand what are the aspects that differentiate these two types of research. Also, when to use each one and the challenges faced by companies when doing primary or secondary marketing research.
What is marketing research
Doing marketing research is important when an organization needs to assess whether a product or service may be a good fit for its clients or not.
This refers to the gathering of information from current customers, those which you know can be your customers in the future, as well as understanding the competitors’ customers.
As a result of marketing research, businesses are able to have insights and understand the likes and dislikes of the target market. Therefore, decision-making gets easier and more efficient.
What is primary research
When someone conducts research by asking questions that have never been asked before, this is primary research. The researcher is directly involved in the process of collecting the information.
Usually, this type of research takes more time to be concluded and is more expensive than secondary research.
And these are two of the reasons why secondary research is more common than primary research. What is interesting to a company is having secondary research done, and if there are gaps in it, do primary research to fill in these gaps.
So if your company understands it’s necessary to gather information that is not available yet, primary research is the answer.
What is secondary research
Secondary research, on the other hand, is when the person or company gathers information from studies conducted in the past.
This is basically the type of research every student does in school or college. Because most topics have already been researched before, this type of marketing research is the most common one.
Considering a business decision on doing marketing research, the smartest action is to start with secondary research. And later, if necessary, complete the research with primary research.
In order to make secondary research easier, it is important to ask the right questions. Additionally, knowing where the answers may be found is also essential. For instance, if your target market is young, the answers will be probably found on social media or online platforms.
Differences between primary and secondary research
Sources
Primary research sources require interaction between the researcher and the people. It includes interviews, calls (over the phone or videocalls), talking to people in person, and observation.
Secondary research doesn’t require this type of interaction, being necessary to get the information from books, articles, blogs, dissertations, journals, etc.
Authenticity
Because the research is done according to the company or person’s demands, information collected in primary research is more authentic than in secondary research.
Speaking of secondary research, since the researcher hasn’t been responsible for the information collected, it is not possible to guarantee its authenticity;
Time
As mentioned above, primary research takes a much longer time to be concluded than secondary research.
Ownership
If the business is part of a fast-paced market, it may be more interesting to have primary research done. This is because the information collected will be 100% owned by the researcher.
Whereas in secondary research the information is available so everyone can access and use it.
Challenges for each type of research
One of the main challenges of primary research is the time it takes to be finished. Besides that, it is common for the person or company to hire a third party to do it, so the cost gets higher as well.
Finding the right people for an interview or call is another challenge of primary research.
Regarding secondary research, one challenge is to understand if the information available on the sources is real and valid. If the conclusion is it’s not real or valid, primary research must be performed.
Being able to narrow down the information available online into answers to the researcher’s questions is considered another challenge of secondary research.
After understanding all this, one may consider combining both types of marketing research. By doing so, the researcher will have information from the past and recently gathered information too. This results in richer and more reliable research.