The Seven Most Common Mistakes in B2B Research

Good market research gives companies the data they need to thrive: What their customers are looking for, how to identify potential new customers, what their competitors are doing, and more. It allows companies to make informed decisions that save time, money, and resources.

Companies aren’t always prepared for the unique challenges posed by B2B market research. Organizations often approach B2B research projects the same way they would B2C, making it – from the very beginning – more difficult for them when they have to identify the qualified respondents they need to produce high-quality data. A study that starts with less than ideal respondents quickly escalates to wasted time, bad data, and lost revenue.

At NewtonX, we focus exclusively on B2B research, so when we work with market research leaders for the first time, we often help them navigate a different process than they’re used to. Our experience and specialization have helped show us what delivers great results and what mistakes to avoid. The following are the top seven B2B market research mistakes to watch out for:

1. Only considering existing customers

Why do some potential customers choose your competitors over you? What changes could you make to your offerings or business model to win them over? These aren’t questions your current customers can answer. While staying apprised of your existing customers’ opinions and needs is crucial to retention (and can even help you win new business), market research shouldn’t begin and end with your existing customers.

A good B2B survey can’t just be aimed at the people you’re already selling to. Branching out to consider what professionals across your entire industry have to say lets you understand your position in the market better, and what you can do to improve it.

2. Eating moldy bread (using bad data)

Market researchers tend to have their own process for reviewing and cleaning their data. Similarly, we all have a threshold for the mold we’re willing to pick off a slice of bread before we think, “that’s good enough”. If you are throwing away 40% of your sample, what does that say about the other 60%? There are probably still some head-scratchers and anomalies in there, or something that was overlooked entirely.

Unfortunately, this is often the basis for multi-million dollar decisions that demand a lot of resources and time. This is a major problem for B2B research because the sorts of questions market researchers have to ask in a B2B survey tend to require specialization and expertise, making good data even harder to come by. Businesses lose 30% or more of their revenue to bad data every year. Only experienced professionals can offer truly valuable insights into the inner workings of their industries.

These multi-million dollar decisions are far too dire to rest on bad data. It’s integral to good market research for companies to source their data from reliable sources. This might mean hiring a firm that specializes in B2B market research to help you, but it’s time and money well spent: Having to correct bad data after the fact will invariably cost more than securing good data in the first place.

3. Resorting to B2C tools to meet B2B needs

Many market research companies cater first and foremost to B2C needs. When it comes to handling B2B research, they often resort to fielding surveys to B2C panels that simply aren’t designed to offer the specialized knowledge B2B research is supposed to produce.

Companies need a partner that can provide strategic and consultative advice from the very beginning. Taking the time to understand a client’s unique needs will ensure a more successful project with happier teams on both sides. Using research procedures and technologies like custom recruiting and AI technology designed with B2B needs in mind will find better data faster.

4. Failing to follow best practices in survey design

The professionals whose insight and experience companies hope to learn from through B2B market research don’t want to waste time on confusing questions, or surveys that are too long and convoluted to make completing them feel worth it. Poorly designed surveys will result in a poor completion rate, extended timelines, and often just bad data. Common survey design blunders include:

• Using the wrong question type: Including too many open-ended responses can be cumbersome for respondents to answer. Picklists or multiple-choice questions can yield equally insightful results. We recommend keeping open-ended questions at 10% or less.
• Making surveys too long: Filling your survey with superfluous questions you could Google or obtain from a respondent’s profile before even surveying them wastes your time and your respondents’.
• Having too many termination points: If you make your screeners too tricky or your lines of questioning too narrow, you risk screening out well-qualified respondents.

It’s important to know what exactly you want to accomplish with your research before you field a survey. Starting with the end in mind lets you know the ideal sample size, respondent quotas, and which survey or interview questions you should include – and which ones will water down your data with mediocre responses that don’t tell the full story.

5. Not knowing how to analyze your data

Gathering data is only one part of market research. The other part is analyzing and actioning that data. In fact, in the latest GRIT report, survey respondents ranked better recommendations and better insights as the top two project success metrics. Analyzing data well demands skill, as well as an unbiased perspective. It’s easy to misinterpret data if you don’t know what you’re doing, or to let what you want to be true of your data cloud your judgment of what it actually says.

This is an area in which working with a reliable B2B market research partner can make a huge difference. Having an extra, unbiased set of eyes goes a long way to preventing confusion. Without a good understanding of your data, you won’t be able to implement the best possible strategies to action it.

6. Not getting a big enough sample

Sample sizes are often smaller in B2B market research than B2C research. However, this doesn’t render sample size irrelevant for B2B research. The data market research produces is only as valuable and actionable as it is accurate, and accuracy is dependent on the statistical significance of the sample. Data doesn’t mean much if it’s pulled from a sample too small to reflect the population.

To totally reap the benefits of their research partners’ consultative guidance, research leaders need to be clear upfront about their end goals for the research. This will impact sample size, quotas, respondent specs, and, most importantly, cost.

7. Believing market research is a one-off activity

If there are any lessons to learn from the events of the past two years, it’s that nothing is truly stable. Market change happens swiftly and suddenly, often in ways that are entirely outside of our control. It’s a potentially disastrous mistake to think you’ll be able to rely on one set of data in the long term.

Conducting good quality market research on a consistent basis can make a critical difference in growing a business. Companies that treat market research as inessential and rely on data far past its expiration date will inevitably find themselves playing catch up to their competitors. The most successful companies will always be those that keep their fingers to the pulse of the evolving needs and demands of customers. Whether it’s a multi-year quarterly brand tracker or a crucial stage during a product launch, spending a little bit to incorporate consistent research will have a big payoff down the line.