Products & Pricing

Market research needs vary significantly depending on the stage of the product lifecycle an organization is in, ranging from initial development to decline. Understanding these needs is crucial for companies to align their product strategy with their capabilities, and market demands, ensuring long-term success.

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How much does market research cost?

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The cost of conducting consumer and BtB market research is influenced by several key factors - broadly the scope, methodology, and resources required.  Some drivers of cost are obvious, such as the sample size or number of geographies being covered.  Some other, more nuanced, cost drivers are summarized below.

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Research Scope

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Market Size and Complexity:  As markets increase in size, they tend to attract more competitors and become more fragmented. A small homogenous market is therefore generally less expensive than analyzing a broad, diverse one.  Note that niche markets, although small, can still be expensive to research due to low category usage or penetration rates, which make it harder to find qualified participants.

Target Audience: Accessing specialized or hard-to-reach demographics (e.g., high-income individuals, specific professions, niche product or brand users) will take time and often requires more resources such as referral fees or extra incentives.

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Research Methodology

Quantitative and Qualitative: Quantitative methods (surveys, large-scale 3rd party data) often require larger sample sizes but enjoy scale efficiencies, so per-respondent costs usually reduce substantially as sample size increases. Qualitative methods (focus groups and in-depth interviews) are more resource-intensive and costly per participant. It's important to note that the use of qual research and quant research is seldom an 'either/or' choice.  The two approaches are different, yielding different insights for different applications: Qualitative is best for discovery, difficult or novel topics and deep or reflective feedback.  Qualitative study is ideal for revealing the range of behaviors and attitudes that will matter to marketers.  Quantitative research is necessary to minimize many of the risks in marketing, when the decisions that follow it are resource-intensive or where the costs of reversal are high.   
 

Primary vs. Secondary Research: Secondary research (analyzing existing data) is typically more affordable.  These should always be explored before investing in more costly stages of exploration, but secondary sources often will not have all the inputs that clients need to make a fully-informed decision.  Primary research (gathering new data) involves higher costs for data collection, analysis, and reporting.
 

Data Collection Methods: Online surveys are cost-effective and online panels are now the dominant source of respondents for most consumer research, including the work done by Scale NZ.  However, the challenges of recruiting very low incidence samples or business-to-business respondents may be amplified in panels because these respondents are usually more busy and disproportionately less likely to participate in market research.  Hence the need for alternative recruitment methods.  In-person interviews, phone surveys, or mail campaigns require the presence of more staff and add logistical costs, so are increasingly uncommon as market research methodologies in places where internet penetration is moderate-to-high.
 

Timing and Urgency

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Tight deadlines often necessitate additional resources, higher participant incentives, staff overtime in some markets, or expedited data processing, increasing costs.  The timing of multi-market studies can run up against public holidays which may impact the timing of the entire project, not just the affected countries. 

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Outputs

The complexity and format of the deliverables (e.g., detailed reports, interactive dashboards, presentations) impact costs.  Automated visualizations or customized dashboards increase the overall expense, but can pay off in the longer term if they enable stakeholders to engage with the research in an easier and more time-friendly way. 

 
By carefully defining the research objectives and balancing these factors, organizations can manage costs while ensuring valuable insights are obtained.  That said, it is normal for the costs of many kinds of research to fall within a fairly predictable range; what we list below may be a helpful indication.

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If budget is limited, let us know.  We'll find the answers that you need the most for a fee that fits.