Web Research: Turning Data into Competitive Advantages

The World Wide Web is a treasure trove of information. From information as apparent as social media interactions to financial filings available with third-party aggregators, valuable data can be gauged only if you know where to look for it.

Nonetheless, searching for relevant information is a taxing exercise, especially when data collection is not your core competency. Building an in-house team for web research incurs significant costs, in terms of technology, infrastructure, employee salaries and benefits, and more. Instead, a more cost and time-efficient way is to engage in professional web research services that deliver verified data in the desired format.

Web research services offer businesses a structured, methodical approach toward data gathering. This encompasses a wide array of activities, such as competitor analysis, customer feedback collection, market trend tracking, and more. By using advanced tools and methodologies, professional researchers extract relevant information from publicly available sources across the Internet, including websites, social media, online databases, and news outlets.

Companies that leverage data research services benefit from timely and accurate data, which can be used to shape strategic decisions, minimize risks, and uncover growth opportunities. In an era where businesses must adapt quickly to changing market dynamics, having access to the right data at the right time is indispensable.

Here are a few examples that build the case for online research services as mandatory IT partners for businesses wanting to excel.

1. Feedback About the Product/Service

Listening to the chatter around your services/products on social media platforms and online forums, you learn about the pain points of customers and the support they need to troubleshoot. A more obvious outcome of this exercise is finding the customer who is a vocal advocate (good/bad advocacy is another thing) for your product.

For example, a leading SaaS company came to know that a section of its user-base was facing issues with an option in their platform which exports the chart to PDF. The company promptly fixed the snag and reached out to every customer they could find online via an email campaign informing them that the issue is fixed. This outreach delighted the users and assured them that their money is in good hands.

2. Product Research

Gauging the market before rolling out a new product/service is of critical importance. Researching the product demand on the Internet is crucial if the main avenue of sales is online. Determining search volume for a related offering online helps in assessing if investment in the product/service would be worthwhile or not.

For example, a hardware company launched a new product line leveraging online business market research. Keywords in Amazon search and eBay, URLs of the Amazon bestsellers, and search engine volume of the keywords were analyzed to assess the demand. Web pages pertaining to similar products were identified through Google custom search and seed URLs were mined from Twitter. These research-based insights ensured a successful product launch as it resonated with the customers, helping the hardware company maintain an edge in the industry.

3. Price Research

For any business, it is important to know the price offered by the competitors and the price perceived by the customer. Web research companies with experience in pricing research mine URLs of related products and their pricing over time. This research also reveals the preferences of customers, like if they are looking for a bundled product at a lower price.

A popular SaaS vendor overhauled their pricing and trial offer strategy after targeted web research, which included analysis of reviews specific to pricing at social platforms like Twitter, Quora, and Reddit, software review websites like Capterra, and Meta reviews at their own page. This way, the SaaS vendor increased its lead conversion rates and generated greater revenue.

4. Building Prospect List

A highly targeted prospect list can be developed using public information on social media profiles. Furthermore, understanding customer preferences and perceptions is vital for any business aiming to build strong customer relationships and brand loyalty. Web research provides valuable insights into customer feedback, reviews, and sentiment across platforms such as social media, forums, and review sites. By analyzing this data, companies can gain a clear understanding of what their customers value, the pain points they experience, and the way they perceive the brand. This type of information is invaluable when developing new products or refining existing ones. Additionally, sentiment analysis helps in assessing the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, enabling businesses to fine-tune their messaging and engagement strategies.

For their product, a GPS enabled pet-collar, a startup used data from public social profiles. URLs of petparents, pettrainers, vetpractitioners, and petprofiles were mined from Instagram, Twitter, etc., using popular hashtags. The data was used for personal outreach starting from the most vocal profiles to try the product for a week. This trial period of a week was a hit show as the pet owners, trainers, and practitioners loved the GPS enabled pet-collar. And this way, the startup carved a unique for itself in the industry.

5. Competitive Research

In highly competitive industries, knowing what your competitors are doing is essential. Web research services allow businesses to monitor their competitors’ activities in real-time, giving them the advantage of being proactive rather than reactive. Through competitive intelligence, companies are able to track their rivals’ product launches, marketing strategies, pricing adjustments, and more.

Leveraging this information, businesses adjust their own strategies to stay ahead of the curve. For example, if a competitor is launching a new product, a company that has invested in web research quickly analyzes the product’s strengths and weaknesses, allowing them to improve their own offerings or develop a counter strategy.

Bottom Line

Web research is essential for businesses seeking to gain a competitive advantage in the industry. By providing timely, accurate, and actionable insights, data research empowers companies to make informed decisions, anticipate market trends, and stay ahead of the competition. By outsourcing web research to professional providers, businesses ensure they have access to the expertise and tools needed to succeed in the dynamic marketplace.

At the same time, it is imperative that the objective and scope of the exercise is clear and documented so that the resultant-data has a predefined route for secondary research and analysis.

About Us

Damco is a leading web research company with service offerings such as Data Mining, Data Collection, Data Verification, and Database Building. Equipped with cross-industry experience our professionals have delivered successful web research projects to both B2B and B2C clients.