The Complete Guide to the Top Market Research Tools in 2024

Making data-driven decisions is key to running a successful business today. But with an overwhelming number of market research tools out there, how do you choose the right one?

As a webmaster with over 15 years of experience, I‘ve tested dozens of market research platforms. In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll share my insider tips on picking the best solutions tailored for your business goals and budget.

Let‘s dive in!

Why You Need a Market Research Tool

First, what can market research do for your business?

Market research gives you insights into your customers, competitors, and overall industry landscape. With the right data, you can:

• Spot gaps in your market to launch new products
• Create targeted messaging that converts visitors
• Analyze competitors to improve your business‘ weak points
• Identify up and coming trends while they are still small
• Make data-backed decisions to serve customers better

But sorting through customer conversations on social media and Google searches takes serious manpower. Market research tools automate the process of gathering, analyzing, and visualizing data.

The key is choosing the tool with the right focus for your current business goals.

For example, if you want to optimize your website content, a content research tool like Buzzsumo would be most beneficial. If you need to size up your market potential, a data platform like Statista provides industry forecasts.

I‘ll guide you through top options across categories to help you find your perfect match.

14 Best Market Research Tools for Business Growth

1. WPForms – Best Survey & Feedback Tool

WPForms is the most beginner-friendly WordPress survey builder, used by over 6 million websites.

It makes it super easy to create professional online surveys to engage your audience. Here are some powerful features:

• 700+ pre-made form and survey templates
• Drag and drop form builder requiring no coding
• Smart logic to personalize questions based on responses
• Detailed reports and graphs to analyze results
• AI analysis to benchmark NPS and CSAT scores
• Integrations with Google Analytics, Zapier, Mailchimp and more

WPForms offers the flexibility to conduct market research like:

• Customer satisfaction surveys after purchase
• Quizzes and polls to segment audiences
• Lead generation and contact forms
• Registration forms for gated content

You can add conditional logic to branch surveys based on answers. This lets you deliver personalized questions to each respondent.

WPForms makes it easy to turnsurvey data into beautiful charts and graphs. You can use these visuals in your marketing reports and presentations.

The free WPForms version lets you create basic forms and surveys. To unlock advanced features, pricing starts at $199/year. This gives you access to polls, payment forms, form abandonment reporting, and more robust analytics.

Over 1 million businesses and agencies use WPForms to power their market research and data collection.

2. Think with Google – Market Trend & Audience Research

Think with Google offers free online tools to support data-driven marketing decisions. Whether you want to identify new markets or resonate with audiences, their platform provides actionable insights.

Let‘s look at some of their most useful market and audience research tools:

Market Finder – Get data-driven recommendations on new regional and global markets to expand your reach.

Trend Reports – See the latest rising Google search categories across industries to create trending content.

Find My Audience – Discover new potential YouTube audiences and how to effectively target them.

Google Surveys – Quickly get answers from consumers on brands, purchasing factors and more.

Demographics – Analyze population size, age, gender and other stats for location targeting.

Shopping Insights – Learn about latest consumer behaviors and preferences for retail.

For example, an ecommerce site can use Trend Reports to identify growing shopping categories. Search interest in "mini fridges" grew +1,900% in 2022 – a potential new product line to explore.

Think with Google condenses mountains of Google data into actionable insights you can implement right away. Everything is free to access, with new studies released frequently.

3. Semrush – SEO & Competitor Research

Semrush is the leading SEO and online visibility management platform, used by over 7 million marketers globally.

It offers robust keyword research tools to identify high-potential search terms to target. You can:

• Get search volume and competitiveness data for any keyword
• See historical trends over time for terms
• Analyze the keywords your competitors are ranking for
• Discover long-tail variations for core keywords
• Track keyword ranking positions over time

Beyond keywords, Semrush provides well-rounded competitive intelligence:

• Analyze competitors by traffic channels, search positions, and mentions
• Compare domains across 70+ data points like backlinks and keyword gaps
• Monitor ranking changes and website traffic

For content planning, Semrush offers useful topic research tools leveraging Google auto-suggestions. It gives you hundreds of semantic keyword and content title ideas.

The free Semrush plan only provides limited keyword data. For full access to their market and competitor research suite, pricing starts at $119.95/month.

Semrush is a robust platform for data-driven decision making. Over 72,000 businesses use it to optimize their online presence.

4. UserFeedback – Website Surveys & Polls

UserFeedback makes it incredibly easy to add surveys and polls to your website. You can instantly start collecting first-party feedback from visitors with their pre-made templates.

It lets you target surveys to specific sections or audiences on your site. Popups and embeds seamlessly blend into your website design.

Features include:

📊 Targeting rules to show surveys to certain visitors
🔧 A/B testing of survey formats and questions
📊 Integration with Google Analytics for deeper analysis
🔧 Skip logic and branching questions
📊 Real-time analytics dashboard
🔧 Over 15 response types like NPS, ratings, comments

You can use UserFeedback to understand:

• Why visitors abandon your site
• How they feel about latest redesigns
• Feature requests to guide your product roadmap
• Customer effort score (CES)

Pricing starts at only $49/year for advanced functionality. Over 6,000 businesses use UserFeedback to effortlessly collect market insights.

5. Statista – Market Data & Consumer Insights

Statista provides access to quantitative data on over 80,000 topics across 170 industries. It‘s one of the largest statistics portals, sourcing data from official institutions, trade organizations and market researchers.

You get access to hard-to-find statistics on:

• Market size and forecasts
• Consumer demographics and behavior
• Industry growth and trends
• Company profiles and finances

For example, you can analyze annual furniture industry revenue over the last 5 years – essential data for an ecommerce startup.

Statista allows you to customize data visualizations in interactive dashboards. You can also download graphs and datasets in PNG, XLS and CSV formats.

According to Statista, their portal sees 100 million global visitors annually who rely on the data for critical business decisions.

While some data points are available for free, full access starts at $39/month for individual users. For businesses, pricing is customized based on required data sources and user accounts.

6. BuzzSumo – Viral Content Research

BuzzSumo is a leading content analytics and monitoring platform. Major publishers like Hubspot, Buzzfeed and Forbes use it to create high-performing content informed by data.

It analyzes billions of webpages to provide content performance insights:

• View top trending content across social media
• Analyze engagement by content type, length, formats
• Discover influencers creating popular content
• Monitor your performance vs competitors
• Get alerts when new content matches keywords

For example, you can see that listicles/roundups generate 68% more Facebook engagement for your competitor. This reveals content formats your audience prefers.

BuzzSumo also offers useful keyword research tools to uncover high-potential topics to target based on existing traction and authority sites covering them.

It‘s an invaluable tool for developing data-backed content strategies and keeping an eye on competitors.

BuzzSumo offers a free plan with 10 searches monthly. For power users, paid plans start at $99/month for unlimited searches and features. 29,000+ companies use BuzzSumo to create viral content.

7. US Census Data – Market Sizing & Opportunities

The US Census Bureau provides official economic, demographic and population datasets. The information can inform key business decisions.

You can access statistics on over 60 topics like:

• Population and age distribution
• Household income and expenditures
• Housing and living costs
• Education, business and employment
  -Trade and taxes

Filter data by location, age group, industry and other attributes for free. This allows tailored market sizing and opportunity analysis.

For example, you can see that Denver, CO has 168,000 adults aged 25-34 with a college degree – your ideal customer demographic. This helps prioritize expansion plans.

All data is recent, credible and downloaded in easy to analyze XLS, CSV and PDF formats. US census data provides invaluable market intelligence, especially for businesses targeting consumers.

8. NielsenIQ – Retail & Shopper Insights

NielsenIQ (formerly Nielsen) is the leader in global consumer insights. For over 90 years, they have provided data-driven analytics on shopper behavior and retail trends.

Their insights are powered by predictive AI, machine learning and robust data sources. Offerings include:

🔎 Retail Measurement Services – Point of sale data across stores
🔬 Consumer Neuroscience – Biometrics, eye tracking etc. to understand subconscious responses
🔍 Consumer Panels – Survey community with 99M+ members
🔎 Omnichannel Analytics – Unified view across in-store and digital

This provides invaluable intelligence like:

• Product affinity and substitution analysis
• Shopping journey pathing across touchpoints
• Category buyer profile development
• Accurate demand forecasting and market sizing

NielsenIQ is a premium provider, with customized projects starting around $25,000. Large enterprises rely on their predictive models and innovation for market leadership.

9. Gartner – Technology Research

Gartner is the industry leader in B2B technology research, serving 90% of Fortune 1000 companies. They are best known for their Magic Quadrant and Market Guide reports.

Magic Quadrants deeply analyze vendors based on:

• Product completeness, sophistication and agility
• Market responsiveness, penetration and growth
• Overall company vision and business strategy

This allows you to make informed decisions when comparing tools and software for your business.

Market Guides offer insight into emerging tech markets like artificial intelligence, quantum computing and more. They introduce key players, trends, barriers and opportunities.

Gartner has a vast research catalog spanning IT, security, finance, HR, marketing and other functional roles. Access starts around $30,000 annually, with custom pricing based on requirements.

For B2B SaaS companies researching the competitive landscape, Gartner provides authoritative reports facilitiating your analysis.

10. Tableau Public – Free Data Visualization

Tableau Public offers free tools to instantly visualize your data through dashboards, charts and graphs. It lets anyone conduct DIY analysis without technical skills.

You can import data from spreadsheets, files, databases and web sources. Tableau will automatically recommend optimal chart types based on the data. You simply drag and drop to create sleek, interactive visualizations.

Embed these charts on your website or intranet to share insights across the organization.

Tableau Public is perfect for small businesses who need to:

• Communicate metrics like sales, web traffic etc.
• Create visual quarterly/annual reports
• Identify data trends and patterns
• Benchmark performance

The free plan has all core features but limits storage space and prohibits private sharing. Paid plans with priority support start at $70/month.

Over 1 million users have signed up to visualize data with Tableau Public. Its intuitive interface makes it easy for novices to uncover insights.

11. Upwave – Agile Market Research

Upwave offers end-to-end market research merging analytics, surveys and predictive intelligence. Services include:

Campaign Analytics – Measure marketing impact and optimize activities for 4X higher ROI.

Predictive Intelligence – AI and machine learning uncover hidden insights and emerging trends.

Agile Reporting – Interactive dashboards to monitor metrics and tweak strategies.

Consumer Insights – On-demand access to 85M+ survey community.

For example, their Campaign Analytics tracks how each marketing channel contributes to pipeline and revenue. Identify your most profitable efforts.

This combination of marketing analytics, primary research and predictive intelligence provides powerful market understanding.

Upwave positions itself as a lean alternative to traditional research firms, offering technology-driven solutions. They work with leading brands like Samsung, Kraft and Spotify.

12. Pew Research Center – Broad Consumer Trends

The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan American think tank conducting public opinion polls and social science research.

They provide invaluable data on broad consumer and technology trends relevant across industries:

• Political landscape and policy
• Social media and tech adoption
• Demographic shifts like aging, immigration
• Religion, ethics and social issues
• Science and environmental matters

For example, Pew found that over 90% of Americans now own a cellphone. This demonstrates wide opportunities for mobile optimization and development.

Their reports tally viewpoints from thousands of consumers on issues through scientific national surveys.

All data and methodology is publicly available, allowing you to parse information relevant to your business.

Pew studies offer unbiased snapshots of sweeping changes in consumer lifestyles, attitudes and habits over time.

13. LivingFacts – US Consumer Insights

LivingFacts provides easily digestible stats on the American consumer and economy. Data is displayed through:

📊 Interactive data visualizations
🗺️ Maps and geographic breakdowns
📈 Growth forecasts
📝 Articles explaining trends

You gain insights across 300+ topics like:

• Population diversity and distribution
• Consumer finances and debt
• Workforce participation and unemployment
• Digital readiness and tech penetration
• Education and achievement gaps
• Buying power across generations

This reveals shifts you need to consider in product development and marketing. For example, millennial and Gen Z buying power is quickly rising.

LivingFacts simplifies a wealth of consumer behavior and demographic data for US market planning. All information is free to access.

14. Facebook Audience Insights – Granular Psychographic Data

With over 2 billion monthly active users globally, Facebook offers unparalleled audience data through their free Audience Insights tool.

You can extract detailed demographics and psychographic insights on people engaging with your branded content and ads. Analyze preferences like:

📍 Location
👪 Age, gender, relationship status
🗣️ Native and second languages
💼 Job titles and employers
📚 Education and schools
📰 News interests

Compare your customers against larger groups like all Facebook or Instagram users. Identify unique characteristics to guide segmentation and messaging.

For example, see that your email subscribers are 60% more likely to be interested in politics vs. average Facebook users. Tailor content accordingly.

The depth of Facebook‘s first-party data provides powerful market research to boost your results.

How to Choose the Right Market Research Tool

With endless options available, here are key factors to consider when selecting market research software:

Align With Your Goals

• What data do you need most right now – competitor intel? Customer feedback? Market trends? Industry spend? Prioritize tools fulfilling your top requirements.

Consider the Cost

• Fortunately, many paid tools offer free trials or free versions with limited capabilities. Start here to prove value before investing.
• For advanced functionality, examine pricing tiers based on your current data needs. Can you get by with a cheaper plan for now?

Assess Ease of Use

• Look for simple data imports, intuitive analysis and data visualization. Complex interfaces slow time to insight.
• Demos let you test the workflow before buying.

Ensure Recent, Reliable Data

• Marketing moves quickly – analyze only current data. Avoid tools lacking refresh frequency and sourcing transparency.

Check Integrations

• Choose tools that integrate with your other systems like CRM, analytics, social and more. This allows efficient automated workflows.

Read Independent Reviews

• Go beyond vendor websites to read third-party software reviews highlighting pros, cons and use cases from real users.

Prioritizing solutions that align to immediate business objectives, within budget constraints, will maximize your market research ROI.

Continually reevaluating data needs will ensure you scale tools appropriately as goals evolve.

Let the Data Lead the Way

In closing, I hope this guide provides a 360-degree view of the valuable insights different market research platforms provide.

Just remember, while data reveals what customers are doing, qualitative surveys and interviews should explore the "why" behind actions. Balance quantitative metrics with human conversations.

Relying solely on gut decisions is risky in today‘s data-driven business environment. With the right market intelligence, you can deliver exactly what your customers want.

Now venture confidently, go test different tools yourself, and let the data guide your way to business growth!