Since the start of 2025, we’ve been sharing deep dives into several of the questions organisations often ask us when they’re looking to undertake market research and insights projects for the first time.
At MMC, we’re all about highlighting the transformative potential of market research across different sectors. As promised, our latest post will focus on the outcomes and positive impact of market research, with details on several of our client projects and the outcomes they’ve delivered.
So let’s get into it, starting with the fundamental question: How can investing in market research and Insights make a positive difference for businesses today?
We briefly discussed this in our recent ‘What to Expect’ post, but to explore further, market research and the associated insights we provide help our clients stop guessing and start knowing. Whether that’s uncovering what customers want from them, how their employees feel, whether or not a launch or initiative has had the desired impact, market research takes the “who knows?” out of these vital questions.
“Without data, you’re just another person with an opinion.” – W. Edwards Deming
Just a few of the positive outcomes – or key benefits, if you will – of investing in market research include:
- Better understanding of customer needs and motivations: Enabling more tailored products/services, approaches, and messaging.
- Increased customer satisfaction, retention and loyalty: By aligning offerings with what truly matters to customers.
- Stronger product–market fit: Reduces the risk of product failure by validating ideas early.
- More effective marketing and communication strategies: Market research can help develop messaging that resonates more deeply, driving engagement and conversion.
- Competitive advantage: Stay ahead by anticipating trends and understanding shifts in consumer behaviour.
- Informed decision-making: Reduces guesswork and supports data-driven strategies.
- Higher ROI: Increased efficiency from knowing what works and why.
- Identification of new opportunities: Being able to spot unmet needs, emerging trends, or underserved segments.
- Better benchmarking: Understanding key stakeholder views over time and benchmarking these can help businesses execute a continuous improvement approach.
- Due diligence: Market research is a vital aspect of proper due diligence. It is most commonly provided to our clients in the financial sector, particularly those in private equity and corporate finance. It helps them fully understand the target audience, brand perception, and potential risks of the investment before making big moves. It also provides credibility in stakeholder communications, showing the decisions are informed, not based on opinion or instinct.
… and this list is by no means exhaustive, but it provides a flavour of the exciting and inspiring outcomes we see across our client base every day.
To emphasise the point further, we also wanted to showcase real-world examples of positive outcomes and the impact of market research with a selection of recent client stories.
Understanding where to focus marketing for Richard Reed Solicitors
Richard Reed is starting 2025 with a bang: A new brand, launching a podcast and ready to sharpen their marketing strategy. Understanding what resonates with potential clients and where to focus their marketing strategy and budget will be key for the remainder of the year.
Throughout February 2025, MMC conducted a survey with existing, lapsed, and potential customers to understand their perceptions of the brand values, where Richard Reed should focus their marketing activities, and to get an overall understanding of their market position.
Laura Kerry, who heads up marketing for the nearly 80-year-old successful firm, posted on LinkedIn: “For anyone working in marketing, you’ll know the value of really knowing your audience and not relying on your own perceptions! I’m blessed to work for a firm that sees the value of investing in market research so we can make informed decisions!”
She went on to say, “We found the insights from the survey incredibly valuable, and they will play a key role in shaping our strategy moving forward.”
We’re excited to see their brand in all the places potential customers have requested!
Making things clearer for Together for Children & Sunderland City Council
Together for Children, in collaboration with Sunderland City Council, faced resource constraints while managing extensive data collection throughout their project.
To support their efforts, MMC provided expert data analysis and visualisation, delivering a comprehensive report aligned with their brand guidelines.
This report served as a crucial tool for evaluating the impact of funding from the Department for Education’s Short Breaks Innovation Fund, strengthening their case for securing future funding.
Validating acquisitions for iamproperty
Iamproperty has worked with MMC Research since 2019 and considers research projects for every important decision, not least as part of their acquisition strategy.
When acquiring VTUK and its OpenView platform, we conducted a programme of research which included conducting in-depth customer interviews. Insights from early adopters to legacy users informed risk assessments and validated the strategic fit.
Our findings supported the acquisition decision, with additional recommendations provided for post-acquisition improvements. Following this research – and iamproperty’s own financial and legal due diligence – the fast-scaling prop tech company successfully acquired VTUK, strengthening its mission to modernise the property sector, and iamproperty continues to be a long-standing client of ours, validating key business decisions with our research and insights.
When was the last time you made a strategic decision backed by market research & insights?
It often seems like the world is spinning a fraction faster every day, with technological advancements, like AI, shifting the status quo practically by the hour. This rapid rate of change can mean that organisations know less and less about their target audience, unless they’re continually investing in understanding them through tangible research.
Customers are more discerning these days, and with more choice at their fingertips than ever before, a lack of understanding of them isn’t something businesses can afford to have.
If the answer to the question above is causing alarm, now might be the time to investigate partnering with a specialist market research firm (like us!) to help deliver business-changing insights, no matter your sector or audience. Since 2015, we’ve honed our offering to deliver transformative outcomes for our clients, and we’d love to show you what we can do as you come with us into our next decade!
Get in touch and stop guessing, start knowing.
