32 Useful Market Research Tools for Startups and Established Businesses

Market research is crucial for the success of any business, big or small. Before you launch new products or run marketing campaigns, you must study and analyze the market so you can make informed decisions instead of relying on guesswork.

By using the right analytical tools for market research, you’ll be able to understand your audiences better and position your products in a way that beats the competition. 

In this article, we’ve rounded up the best tools for market research to help you make more accurate and data-driven business decisions. 

And please don’t be discouraged by the subscription fees you see. Instead, try some of the trial versions for these tools, and you’ll soon understand why introducing industry-leading market research tools in your arsenal is well worth the investment.

Data and statistics tools

Businesses often rely on industry statistics to figure out the right niche, surface high-level trends and gain insights into market sizes, audience demographics, and more. The following tools can help you do just that.

1. Statista

Statista is one of the most popular online portals for market research, data, and studies. 

• This platform consolidates statistical data from over 22,500 renowned sources on more than 80,000 topics in 170 industries. It can help you decide on a number of ecommerce needs, like if your business requires a mobile app, based on the number of smartphone users in your target demographic. 

Pricing: Statista has a Basic Account for free while paid plans start at $199 a month.

2. Pew Research Center

Pew is one of the top free-market research tools that can help you gain useful insights into specific customer demographics which you can use for promos, product development, or entering a new market.

• The research center conducts detailed polls on public opinion, demographics, and other global trends. 
• The platform’s studies and reports are considered the gold standard in market research and are often cited by major media networks and publications. 

Pricing: Pew is free to use.

Content research tools

The following tools can help spot both content and product opportunities. Use them to figure out what people are searching for, so you can craft web copy and optimize your product descriptions and listings accordingly.

3. Google Keyword Planner

Google Keyword Planner is one of the top market research tools used by SEO professionals, digital marketers, and business owners looking for the best keywords for their content strategy. 

• You can use Google Keyword Planner to find out what keywords you should target in your Google Ads and how much they could potentially cost. 
• It also helps you understand how often people search for given keywords and how these trends change over time. 

Pricing: Keyword Planner is a free tool you can use with a Google Ads account (which is also free to create, though you’ll need to fund it to run ads). 

4. Google Trends

Google Trends is a must-have market research tool that tells you what people all over the world are searching for. 

• The platform allows you to build your content strategy around real, relevant topics that your target audience is searching for. 
• You can see trending searches, past searches, and even narrow down the results by region, time period, categories, and more. 

Pricing: Google Trends is free to use.

5. Ahrefs

Ahrefs is a suite of online market research software to help you build a solid content and SEO strategy. 

• Using the Site Explorer, you can analyze competitor websites including their backlink profiles and organic search traffic.
• The Site Audit tool lets you analyze the on-page SEO performance of your website. 
• The Rank Tracker tool helps you track your website’s search rankings over time and gives you accurate keyword ranking data. 
• Ahrefs also has a Keyword Explorer tool for finding the right keywords for your business and a Content Explorer tool to dive into deeper content analysis. 

Pricing: Ahrefs pricing starts at $99 a month. You can also start with the 7-day trial for $7 on the Lite and Standard plans. 

6. Sitechecker 

Sitechecker is a comprehensive solution for SEO website audit with the search for opportunities to increase organic search traffic.

• With Traffic Checker you can collect traffic data of your competitors, what channel they get traffic from, and the service will show you their top keywords and how much traffic they get.

• Site Audit tracks all types of errors on the site at a speed of 150 pages per minute. Fine-tuning is available, as well as a monitoring function with automatic notification when problems are detected;
• SEO Chrome Extension is a free extension that allows you to analyze the content and links of your competitors.

Pricing: Sitechecker pricing starts at $29 a month. You can also start with the 7-day free trial on the Basic plans.

7. Semrush

Semrush offers several solutions for PPC, SEO, and content research. Here are its main features:

• With its online market research tools, you can analyze competitor websites for traffic, keywords, backlinks, and more. 
• Semrush’s software comes with tools for researching keywords and optimizing your content strategy using real-time metrics. 
• Its data-driven insights help you drive more traffic to your website with SEO, paid search, social media marketing, and more. 

Pricing: Semrush’s pricing starts at $119.95 per month, but the company also offers a free account with limited features.

8. Moz

Moz provides several tools for market analysis to help you with your SEO, link-building, and content marketing efforts.

• It can help you with keyword research, rank tracking, site audits, backlink analysis, on-page optimization, competitor research, and much more. 
• It offers a robust keyword explorer tool with useful analytics and reporting features. 
• Moz delivers detailed reports for entire websites as well as individual pages so you can get a complete picture of your site’s health. 

Pricing: Moz’ pricing starts at $99 per month, and the company also offers a 30-day free trial.

9. Ubersuggest

Ubersuggest is one of the best market research tools for SEO, PPC, and content research. Just enter a keyword and the tool will generate a detailed report on it. 

• You’ll get an overview of the keyword including its search volumes, cost-per-click, SEO and paid search difficulty, related keyword ideas, and more. 
• You can also conduct competitor analyses and find content ideas for your website. 

Pricing: Ubersuggest’s paid plans start at $12 per month or a lifetime payment of $120. It also has a 7-day free trial. 

10. AnswerThePublic

AnswerThePublic is a popular market research tool that you can use to find what your audience is searching on Google. 

• It’s very simple to use. Just enter a word or phrase and you’ll get to see almost every Google search related to it (sorted by different categories). 
• You can use these to find relevant content ideas that your audience is likely to be interested in. 

Pricing: AnswerThePublic’s pricing starts at $99 per month, but you can get a free version with a limited number of searches every month.

Survey tools

Surveys have several benefits. They give you insights into your market, which can inform certain business decisions. Surveys can also make customers feel heard and valued, which can help improve brand loyalty.

11. Qualtrics

Qualtrics offers market research software to help you measure customer sentiment and brand impact. 

• It lets you create advanced-flow surveys, so you can analyze consumers and competitors.
• You can also utilize Qualtrics’ Brand Tracking capabilities to monitor brand awareness, measure the impact of your marketing campaigns, and view market shifts in real-time.

Pricing: Qualtrics doesn’t display pricing information on its website, but it provides a free account with limited features. There’s also a 30-day free trial to access the full product.

12. SurveyMonkey

SurveyMonkey is one of the oldest market research tools available. It helps you collect feedback through easy-to-create surveys. 

• This AI-powered market research platform delivers actionable insights based on data from your surveys that you can use to improve the customer experience, collect feedback, or create marketing content.
• The company also enables you to reach the right people, ensuring that you hear from your target audience. Plus, it offers a range of services from survey translations to survey design and audience targeting. 

Pricing: SurveyMonkey offers a free plan, and their paid plans start at $25 per month.

13. Questback

Questback is an online feedback and survey tool used for market research. You can use it to conduct different types of surveys to gain insights into customer preferences, markets, and employee engagement.

• Questback provides an extensive set of templates for surveys and advanced reporting features for market research. 
• Its customer experience tools allow you to conduct surveys on a regular basis, and thanks to built-in follow-up features, you can contact survey participants to dig deeper and ensure that their comments are addressed.
• Questback also has employee experience solutions that allow you to create anonymous surveys that are shareable with colleagues on different levels. 

Pricing: Questback doesn’t showcase pricing information on its website, but it offers three types of plans: Starter (3 users), Business (5 users), and Enterprise (8 users). You can get a free trial on the Starter plan. Questback also lets you use some of the features available on advanced plans as add-ons (when you’re on a lower plan).

14. Key Survey

Key Survey is useful survey management tool that allows you to create surveys, collect responses, and analyze them using advanced tools. 

• It offers powerful reporting and data collection solutions for a wide range of use cases like employee engagement, customer satisfaction, market research, and customer feedback.  

Pricing: Key Survey doesn’t advertise its pricing, but you can request a free 30-day trial before you purchase the solution.

15. Survey Planet

Survey Planet is another tool for building and sharing questionnaires among your target audience. 

• Creating surveys is a breeze, as the tool comes with over 90 pre-written templates, survey themes, and support for 30+ languages. You can also duplicate existing surveys with one click.
• Survey Planet lets you share your surveys via website embedding, email, and social media.
• You can also conduct anonymous surveys with ease. 

Pricing: You can take advantage of a Free plan as well as a paid plan with advanced features for $20 per month or $180 per year. The best part is that even with the Free plan, you can create unlimited surveys and send them to as many recipients as you want.

16. Google Surveys

Google Surveys accelerate and simplify your market research process without compromising on the quality of results. 

• All you have to do is select the type of audience you want to target and prepare your questions. 
• Google will then send your survey to the specific demographic you want, and you’ll get your results in a fraction of the time needed for traditional research. 
• It comes in two variants—Surveys and Surveys 360. The features are more or less the same except that Surveys 360 is suited for large enterprises and includes monthly invoicing and more extensive support. 

Pricing: The price of Google Surveys starts at 10¢ per completed survey while the price of Surveys 360 varies by different use cases.

Social insights tools

Use these social listening tools to discover what people are saying about your brand and competitors on social media. These insights can be valuable in business decision-making. Knowing your customer’s opinions, for example, can lead to product or service improvements.

17. Mention

The internet is limitless and it’s not easy to monitor what people are saying about your brand. That’s where Mention comes in handy. 

• Besides tracking mentions of your own brand, you can also track what people are saying about your competition and stay on top of your game. 
• Mention also provides useful insights to help you understand which social media network(s) may be best suited for your business so you can spend your resources wisely. 

Pricing: Mention’s paid plans start at $29 per month and it also has a free plan with basic features. 

18. Brandwatch

Brandwatch is an AI-based market research software that uses its algorithms to crawl through websites and social media, letting you in on the public conversations people are having about your brand and your competitors. 

• It has a suite of solutions for consumer research, audience insights, content insights, product reviews, and data visualization. 
• You can gain real-time competitor insights on the size of your brand’s presence compared to the competition. Plus, Brandwatch comes with tools to help you understand brand perception relative to your competitors. 

Pricing: Cost info is available only on request, but students can get access to it for $150 a year.

19. Market Finder

Powered by Google, Market Finder is the best market analysis software for businesses that are looking to identify new markets around the world. It’s an entrepreneur’s tour guide to the global market.

• It helps you identify potential markets for your services and find out what marketing strategies may work there so you can plan accordingly. 
• You can also find out what payment options will work, how to handle logistics, how to recruit people in those markets, and so on. 

Pricing: The solution is free to use.

20. Facebook Audience Insights

Facebook Audience Insights is a popular market research tool used by Facebook advertisers. It helps you understand your target audiences better including information about their location, demographics, behavior, and more. 

• It analyzes trends about your potential and current customers on Facebook.
• Besides the data gathered from Facebook users, it also gets its data from trusted third-parties. 
• This tool can help you build stronger audience personas or customer profiles, perform product research, and deliver content to your target audience. 

Pricing: The tool is free to use if you have an Ads Manager account.

Research automation and visualization tools

Market research can be tedious and time-consuming. The following solutions can help make it easier.

21. Sisense

Sisense is an analytics and reporting software that helps you combine data from multiple sources, visualize them, and get insights. 

• Sisense has four different products, of which Fusion Analytics, Sisense Cloud, and the Extense Framework are useful for research automation. 
• These solutions integrate data analytics into your organization’s workflow, bringing the analysis platform exactly where your team works. 
• It provides a wide range of integrations and add-ons to streamline your data analysis. 

Pricing: Cost info is available on request, but Sisense offers a free trial for all of its solutions.

22. Make My Persona

Make My Persona is an easy-to-use market research tool for creating your buyer personas—i.e., characters or archetypes that represent your target customers. 

• The solution is very straightforward, and essentially teaches you the factors you’ll need to consider when you create a persona. 
• You answer seven questions related to the age, industry, educational qualifications, etc. of your ideal customer, and it generates a buyer persona for you. 

Pricing: The tool is free to use.

23. Temper

Temper simplifies customer feedback to its bare minimum by prompting users to share their opinion with a single click. No need to design complicated surveys; with Temper, you can get the pulse of your users instantly.

• You can use Temper to get continuous and real-time feedback from your customers that reflects their actual feelings. 
• Just create your questions, and Temper will create a code for you to add to your website or product. 
• Customers can share their feedback by clicking on an emoji in response to your questions. 

Pricing: Temper’s pricing starts at $12 per month.

Data analysis and visualization tools:

If you need help visualizing and making sense out of your market research data, these tools will do the trick.

24. Tableau

This analytics platform offers a whole set of products for business intelligence and data analysis. 

• Tableau is easy to set up and supports a host of integrations, including Salesforce, Google Analytics, and big data sources. 
• You can use it on your desktop, deploy it on your servers, or access it online. 
• The software suite also comes with some great tools for collaboration. 

Pricing: Tableau pricing starts at $12 per user per month.

25. Google Data Studio

Google Data Studio is a relatively new data visualization tool for market research. 

• You can connect Google Data Studio to a wide range of sources and create real-time reports without any coding. 
• The Data Studio lets you connect your data to over 510 apps or software solutions, so you can visualize data coming in from a wide range of sources. 
• The user interface is quite similar to other Google products which makes it fairly intuitive for users who are familiar with tools like Google Analytics or Ads. 

Pricing: The solution is free to use, but some of the third-party connectors are chargeable.

Ecommerce and marketplace research tools

If you use online marketplaces and ecommerce to sell products, you need specialized insights on those platforms. Consider the following.

26. Alura

Made specifically for Etsy, Alura comes with a range of tools to help sellers grow. 

• It has a keyword research tool that focuses on Etsy, to give you an idea of what people are searching on the marketplace. 
• You can also use Alura’s product research capabilities to see what’s selling on Etsy.

Pricing: Alura has a free plan for basic access. Paid plans start at $13.33 per month.

27. Marmalead

Marmalead uses machine learning to surface shopper keywords on Etsy and gives you tools for driving traffic and sales. 

• Use the tool’s brainstorming features to discover what customers are actually searching for. 
• It also offers analytics that shed light on search volume, keyword engagement, and more. 

Pricing: Marmalead’s pricing starts at $19 per month.

28. Teikametrics

Teikametrics’ main product, Flywheel 2.0, is an AI-powered platform that provides advertising and keyword analytics for Amazon and the Walmart Marketplace. 

• Connect your products, ads, and marketplaces to the Flywheel platform and analyze your data from a central location. 
• Ideal for those who advertise on Amazon and Walmart, Flywheel’s recommendation engine makes keyword suggestions based on data points like ad spend and ad sales, so you can ensure that your ad campaigns are the best they can be.

Pricing: Teikametrics has a free plan Flywheel 2.0 with basic features. The solution’s AI-powered platform is free for sellers making less than $10,000 per month. After that, it costs 3% of ad spend.

29. Algopix

Algopix is ideal for sellers that have a presence on more than one marketplace, Algopix serves as a “real-time window” into all things online marketplaces.

 The tool supports market research for multiple sites including Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Shopify, and more. 

• Get real-time data on product and keyword searches to inform your own catalog and listings. 
• It also offers pricing data, including benchmarks and market share insights, so you can ensure that your product prices are competitive.

Pricing: Algopix offers an Unlimited plan for $27.99 per month if paid annually.

30. Intelligynce

Intelligynce is a tool designed for Shopify sellers, Intelligynce has a range of features to support your market research needs.

• Tap into its database of over 500,000+ Shopify stores to get insights on bestsellers, recently added products, and the number of products added.
• Get keyword analytics and see the position and monthly clicks of target keywords.

Pricing: The solution’s pricing starts at $39 per month.

31. AMZScout

A toolset designed for Amazon sellers, AMZScout analyzes the marketplace’s search data so you can easily find profitable products to sell and optimize your listings. 

• Utilize the site’s product database to discover high-profit, low competition products. 
• Track performance on a continuous basis, with the software’s daily tracking capabilities and trend reports.

Pricing: The solution’s pricing starts at $16.49 per month.

32. Jungle Scout

Jungle Scout comes with a variety of features to help sellers enhance their Amazon SEO strategy, create better listings, and run more profitable stores. 

• It allows you to reverse-search Amazon Standard Identification Numbers (ASINs) to find and compare top performing keywords. 
• Measure keyword performance overtime and view the rank history of search terms to get info on marketplace trends.

Pricing: Jungle Scout paid plans start at $29 per month.

For further reading check out our blog post about content marketing tools.

Final words

Knowing your market and your audience can be the difference between success and failure for your business. 

A clear understanding of your target audience, your competition, as well as the demands and challenges of your industry can help you decide your product and marketing strategy. Use these tools to gain in-depth knowledge and awareness of your market and industry and take your business to newer heights.

Read Next:

• 10 Effective Ways How to Market a Product
• How to Develop an Effective Marketing Strategy