- Research companies are specialized in conducting market research and opinion surveys.
- Consulting firms offer a wide range of business consulting services, such as market analysis, competitor analysis, strategic consulting, or qualitative and quantitative research.
- Customer satisfaction surveys, marketing surveys, customer service quality surveys, consumer trends surveys are some of the many services that consultancies and research agencies can carry out for your company.
- When choosing a research consultancy or agency, it is important to clearly define the scope of the research and focus on the objective we want to achieve with the project
Is your company looking for accurate and reliable local marketing or market research to accurately analyse consumer needs? Or perhaps your company would like to check customer expectations and get to know its target groups better in order to be more effective and more easily convince customers of the product or service offered? It is worth considering expanding your knowledge of the services of research and consulting companies.
What does a consultancy do?
Consulting agencies focus on a wide range of business advice for various business entities. This business support can take many different forms depending on the client’s needs. Consulting projects can relate to market analysis, competitor analysis, market potential, global strategic advice . Often, conducting a comprehensive analysis requires qualitative or quantitative research into the project process.
Consulting firms help their clients develop business strategies by analyzing the environment, the competition, identifying trends, opportunities and risks in the market to better assess the situation and make appropriate business decisions.
What does an investigative agency do?
Research agencies are specialized in conducting all kinds of market research or opinion polls . To obtain data, research companies often use quantitative surveys to get the information they need from a wide audience. They are carried out through surveys over the Internet, telephone interviews or face-to-face interviews with respondents.
Customer needs surveys, customer satisfaction surveys, consumer trends surveys, or customer service quality surveys are some of the main surveys conducted using this method. Research companies can obtain more data through qualitative research, which is conducted with much smaller groups of respondents but is more in-depth and detailed. Tools used for this type of research include, for example, group interviews or telephone interviews with experts.
The scope of activities of research companies may also include fields other than business. Research companies may be engaged in specific scientific fields such as psychology, sociology, economics, medicine, and many others to provide the knowledge needed by researchers. These include those engaged in research into social problems and behavior, demographic trends, or public policies.
When to use a consultancy or agency?
In today’s rapidly changing business environment, monitoring the america cell phone number list market environment, competition, analyzing consumer needs and their opinions on products have become even more important. Any company that wants to know the answers to questions about its own market environment, customer expectations and preferences can turn to a consultancy or agency.
Companies that want to stay abreast of market changes, the effects of marketing activities, or customer satisfaction may choose to conduct such surveys periodically. What’s more, it is worth relying on such services when making important 10 good management practices that you can apply to your team decisions as well. A better understanding of customer needs and opinions can make a significant difference to the efficiency of a company’s operations. Conducting research and properly interpreting the results provides the opportunity to improve the product before it is released to the market, better tailor the marketing message to the public, or improve the customer service process.
Consulting Firm vs. Research Agency: Similarities
Both consulting agencies and research firms carry out a whole fans data range of studies on many aspects of business in various fields. Any business research can be equally applied to local market research, consumer satisfaction research or marketing research.
Both types of companies tailor their services to the client’s needs, providing the most reliable research results, analysis or solutions appropriate to the client’s needs.
Services provided by consulting and research firms strongly support decision-making as their research and analysis can provide valuable information about consumers, the market or the competition.
Quantitative and qualitative research is one of the areas of activity of both types of companies. Although this is a specialization of research agencies, consulting firms also carry out consumer research .
Differences between a consulting firm and a research agency
Despite these similarities, there are important differences between consultancy
and agency research. Projects undertaken by agency research use specialised tools, teams of researchers and advanced data analysis techniques to tailor the research to the individual needs of the client. This specialisation allows for deep and accurate understanding of the data collected .
Consulting firms, while not specialising in research to the same extent as research agencies, also have a wealth of experience in this field. They often carry out a variety of studies, such as quantitative and qualitative analysis. In addition, their experience in market and competitor analysis can be invaluable when it comes to interpreting research results, providing clients with practical advice and recommendations .
Ultimately, the product of consultancies tends to be reports, presentations and business strategies, while research agencies focus solely on providing detailed research results. Both forms of activity offer unique values, depending on the specificities and requirements of the client that will allow you to choose the most suitable service provider based on the objectives of your project.
What to choose, a consultancy or a research agency?
When deciding between a research agency and a consultancy, it is worth considering the level of support that the company requires . Research agencies are the ideal choice when a company only needs raw data that it can analyze itself. They are specialized in providing detailed information that can be used as a solid basis for internal analysis .