Businesses large and small seem scared of putting out their market research on their websites. Common concerns we have heard are:
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Our competitors will know how we think about the market
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Our market insights are our “secret” – sauce- why share the recipe
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And the one we like best: Speech is silvery but silence is golden- and silence on the web is golden
Here is why silence on the web is not golden, when it comes to most of your market research.
- Information asymmetry is the idea that the seller has more information than the buyer and “information is power”. This is no longer true with Google and other search engines. You have a question? Google has several pages of answers. Some of these answers are good and some may directly answer a general question about your product. For example, a car buyer might want to know whether you should use regular or premium gasoline for a particular car. The answers are out there right from the brand website to owners forums.
- Consumers can and will get their information-online: You can be sure that consumers will do their research online. These include serious expensive elective surgeries as discussed in an earlier post. They also include shopping mall purchases. One reason why Mall retailers like Macy’s have to close stores is that consumers search online and are willing to wait for delivery from online stores.
- You did do your research before introducing a new product or starting a business: All new products or businesses are based on market research. That research might have been done formally through a market research agency or informally by the entrepreneur. Since the business needed funding and estimates of market outlook – even financial proposals would have sections detailing why the business has a need and what value it hopes to provide its customers.
- Explaining why your product from earlier market research makes great web content: The reason you launched a new product or business was because your research suggested that there would be demand for certain reasons. Explaining this on the web is no big “secret” revealed!
- Anyway, you are explaining the “why your product” in your marketing, sales and advertising material : If you think about all the content of your sales pitches,marketing materials and even social media outreach- you are trying to convince customers about why your product. That is you are expanding on what your market research told you in the first place.
To summarize, market research got you into a particular business. And all your other marketing efforts are building on that initial market research. There is really no harm for you to explain the “why” on your website… It just helps your SEO, PPC like Google AdWords and your overall marketing effort.