Product intelligence vs Market research intelligence – What’s the difference?
Product intelligence and market research are both crucial to making expertly informed business decisions. But what’s the difference? Discover the relationship between these two concepts and how they can increase product success within a competitive landscape.
Explore the key differences between product intelligence vs market research intelligence and why both are essential for your business strategy.
An overview of product intelligence
Product intelligence involves collecting, analysing and applying consumer and product usage data. This provides information about your target customers and product performance, including customer feedback, sales data and product usage statistics.
Product intelligence provides a comprehensive understanding of your target audience and how they experience your product. These valuable insights can help improve your product development and marketing processes. You can make informed business decisions based on reliable data rather than assumptions. This results in better products, improved customer satisfaction and overall success.
Product intelligence data collection methods
There are several ways to gather data for product intelligence. These include both qualitative (descriptive) and quantitative (numerical) research. Here are some primary data collection methods.
- Surveys and questionnaires — Gather straightforward answers based on fixed, predefined questions
- Focus groups and interviews — Engage in open-ended discussions with flexible questions guided by participants’ responses
- Product analytics — Track consumer behaviour and product usage statistics
- Observational research — Explore user experience by observing how consumers interact with your product
Using a combination of multiple research methods enables you to gather the most in-depth consumer and product insights possible. For example, a quantitative survey may highlight consumer dissatisfaction with a product interface. To extract real value from this information, the survey could be paired with focus groups to provide insight into why the interface is unsatisfactory.
An overview of market research
Market research is an essential part of all product intelligence solutions. It involves gathering customer insights to better understand your unique target market and validate business growth opportunities.
Market research and insights can include information relating to customer preferences, customer pain points and behaviour. This assists you in optimising your product to better meet customer needs and improve your value proposition for enhanced customer loyalty.
Market intelligence vs market research
Market research is often confused with market intelligence. While both concepts focus on data collection and implementation, there are several differences between them.
Market research usually corresponds to a specific business query, while a market intelligence platform encompasses a broader market landscape. Here are the four main types of market intelligence.
- Competitive intelligence
- Product intelligence
- Market understanding
- Customer understanding
Gathering market intelligence data involves analysing industry trends and identifying new market opportunities to enhance your business strategies. This continuous process relies upon in-depth market research to keep up with customer needs and market trends in an ever-changing market environment.
Market research methods
Most product and market intelligence initiatives rely upon primary and secondary market research tools.
Primary research
- Gathering original data directly from participants
- Information is generally very accurate and up-to-date
- Often more time-consuming and expensive
- Sources include focus groups, interviews and more
Secondary research (desk research)
- Analysing data that already exists in the public domain
- Information may not always be up-to-date
- Often quicker and less expensive
- Sources include government data and research reports
Using product intelligence and market research for strategic decision-making
Product intelligence and market research work together to help you gain a deeper understanding of your target audience. This knowledge allows you to meet customer needs more holistically, providing your business with a unique competitive advantage.
Market research involves the collection and analysis of valuable consumer data. Product intelligence encompasses this process, as well as the implementation of actionable insights. This means that valuable market research can influence the quality of your product intelligence.
Robust consumer data helps facilitate data-driven decision-making for optimised product development and marketing strategies. Combined with other market and competitor intelligence, this results in business growth and success.
Vypr: Build better products faster
Vypr is the world’s leading product intelligence platform that enables businesses to rapidly understand changing consumer behaviour through fast, cost-effective consumer insight.
Explore the relationship between product intelligence vs market research intelligence. Use a combined approach to better understand your target customers and make data-driven decisions.
Leverage robust market research to enhance your product intelligence data from Vypr. Try Vypr for free today to improve your competitive positioning.