It is known by all website owners that creating a successful, revenue creating website involves a lot of things. It is a myth that only coding will get the job done. Coding is an integral part of website creation and without it, the website will not comes into existence, but this article talks about many peripheral functions that are as relevant to the website success as coding. It is the marketing research which has a huge impact. The benefit is not generally known and realized by the website owner but it is something that the design companies use and focus on. This helps them align the business goals to the need of the customers for a better experience.
The reason why market research is focused is that of the benefits it provides.
1) Creation of the customer expectation: The designing of the website must start with understanding the expectation of the customers and then mapping them to their journey. The two major parties who will be important are the client and the customers. The clients will have some idea of how they want the customer’s experience to be, what is the sales and marketing elements they wish to include and also in which order. The clients will have clarity on every part of it and this must be extracted from them. The common expectation of the customer is of a simple website which will help them in gliding through the desired location on it. Creating a balance between these two different expectations is the crucial part of the website designers. It is the backbone which will create a successful website. It is true that the client is right there and hence the expectation meeting can be made easily but when the question of the understanding the demands of the customers is realized then market research is needed.
2) Guide you in the right direction: The market research shows how the website should interact with the customer. It also brings out the ways in which the aspects of the website should be created so that communication with the customer is made and in an effective manner. The research before anything is done tries to find out different ways in which the customers appreciate being reached out. It is seen that over communication by means and mediums which are not appreciated by the customers often create dislike. This is definitely not the aim of the website owners and the designers. Hence it is beneficial that they find out what is it that will best suit them so that the communication is carried on in the same manner.
3) Identification of opportunities: It sometimes happens that when you think of an idea in your mind then it sounds lovely but in reality it is not so. The idea when put into action might not bring the best results as the market keeps on changing. The market research before converting that idea into reality, helps the developer with what is the future. They can then make modifications to the idea and bring in the change required. This way the idea will be used in the best possible manner and not without any end results in mind.
4) Customer’s ideas: Sometimes when the designers are not able to finalize any idea then the best way is to get the ideas from the customers. This does not guarantee that the outcome will be great but in most cases open ways for new thoughts. The customers definitely know what they like in terms of a particular type of website and if there is anything that they think could be added to it. This could be a source of a new idea for the designers. It is not forced that one should definitely use the ideas but they are just options to the already existing list of ideas which might be useful.
5) Risk minimization: This is the biggest known benefit of market research, there will be so many things that one would think would work but the actual market is volatile and it keeps on changing. With research, the development team realizes that they should not move ahead with certain ideas as they are either outdated or not in accordance to the current market conditions. This minimized the risk which would have been huge had the effort made in that direction. The developer can carefully ponder on such ideas or exclude them as they deem fit so that they do not run into huge risks.
6) Reputation: The benefit of marketing result is that it allows you to weigh your idea against the competition. This is a great opportunity to see how tough the competition is and how the website that you are building will be able to stand in front of it. This allows the developers and the clients to gauge in advance whether they are headed in the right direction or not. This could also mean that the reputation that they are likely to enjoy is analyzed beforehand.
7) Highlights problems: The market research highlights the problems that one might face in either creation or marketing of the website. The problems can be related to the technological issues or marketing strategies but they will impact the process and thus should be dealt with in time. When they come to surface at the right time then the design team and the development, team can take on changes to avoid such problems. The problems at a later stage could be fatal but at this stage of prior development it will be life-saving.
The website design companies thus get involved in the process of market research as they know that the need will be fulfilled of creating the best website which does not just have the expertise of the developers but also contains the insights of the market. The research can be conducted in many ways which the developers and the design company deem fit but the main aim is to gather as much information on various aspects as possible from the market.
Sonal S Sinha is managing director of Shri Krishna Technologies. He has been writing about website designing, digital marketing and WordPress ecosystem for the past 15+ years. He handles the overall operations and in his free time writes suitable blog posts which are knowledgeable and informative.
