Many companies, including mom and pop shops, can use market research software to find out how their business fares with customers. As long as you have a basic understanding of word processing, spreadsheets, and an electronic contact list to start with, you can cobble together a research plan.

Many companies offer their products as web-based Application Service Provider solutions (ASPs), charging license fees rather than selling you a CD with stand-alone software to load onto your PC. This allows you greater choice, as you can purchase as much or as little as you need, and add on later as you grow. Keep in mind the old saying "you get what you pay for" when considering three broad tiers of ASP service:

1. Value-based market research survey software for small business or individual projects

2. Mid-tier business research software to incorporate research results into marketing or sales initiatives

3. High-end marketing analysis software for full support of permanent market research departments

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Stay within shoestring budgets with small business survey creation software

Use survey software to create and send questionnaires to colleagues or clients. Some companies offer introductory services free. While the web survey software is very limited, it's adequate for a stand-alone survey or to help you decide whether you need something more robust for your business. Services who do charge generally ask anywhere from $40 to $500 per month. The lower-priced offerings limit the service to a low number of questions in the survey, respondents you can send the survey to or length of time you can access your information.

I recommend: Use SurveyMethods to develop a survey and view results online. They don’t charge for their basic package and there's no minimum contract. StatPac's core module lets you design your survey, manage email lists and upload and download data to a spreadsheet or database management program as a tab- or comma-delimited file.

Stretch mid-size budgets by incorporating software for marketing research into business processes

Use online market research software that integrates survey data into sales and marketing efforts, rather than treating business research as a stand-alone function. This lets you justify the budget by including research as part of marketing and sales, including research as a vital part of the program rather than a separate department or line-item to be axed at the next budget meeting. Fees are reasonable for a mid-size firm, from $1,000 or $2,000 for a base level up to $5,000 or $6,000 for a premium service. Look for a one-time charge rather than annual fees for this level of service. Also if you need more than one person working on the system, multi-user licenses can run substantially higher, approaching $10,000.

I recommend: Craft customer feedback surveys, sales force updates or competitive intelligence summaries with Key Survey software. Minitab not only develops data tabulation and statistical analysis software, it also develops software to support Six Sigma efforts.

Get the biggest bang for the buck with large-scale market research analysis software

If you have a permanent market research program, review and compare packages to avoid buying too much software: some Internet market research software companies offer modules so you only buy and use what you need. You purchase an initial license for a core package for roughly $1,500 then add modules for around $750 to $950 per module. Other companies bundle statistics and graphing capabilities into one comprehensive package and charge higher prices, starting around $7,000 or more. These firms charge a first-year license followed by annual maintenance fees ranging between 25% and 30% of the initial price, based on when you first ordered it.

I recommend: SPSS is to statistics software what Windows is to operating systems. They take a modular approach to the package: a base SPSS stats module, then higher-order analysis modules for conjoint, categories, decision trees, regression and forecasting. Its primary competitor, SAS promotes itself as the business analytics leader.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Student versions of market research software solutions are usually much cheaper for a reason: they're considerably more limited, either in the questionnaire length, the number of respondents you can contact and collect responses from or the extent of tabulation or analysis you can perform.

Market research software varies widely depending on what services your firm offers as well as what specific needs best suits your company. Your computer operating system comes into play, as either you will need software that works with your present system, or you will have to upgrade the entire system to fit the software. Make sure that the software is network-ready for multiple sharing over departments and branches.

Many software systems will contain information that you don't need, so do not pay for options that don't work for you. Select a software system that will grow with your institution. Alternatively, upgrading your present software with new functions may be the best option if you have a system that is already working for you. Look for these features when choosing software for marketing research:

1. Buy market research survey software that answers the questions you ask.

2. Use your current market research analysis software with a new twist.

3. Find help with market research software through customer service support.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Locate online survey software providers with programs you can use

Software programs come in all shapes and sizes and there is a price tag that goes with that. Check the features of the software you are considering and purchase what your institution needs.

I recommend: Research Info offers many software programs that are either totally free or free to try. Check to see if you can use these programs or download them and take a test drive. GMI offers several programs to choose from including survey software and complete market research suites for multi-function use. Choose the one that is right for your business.

Choose web survey software updates to the system already in place

If your present software is working for you consider upgrading it to add a few features that you need instead of replacing the entire system. There may be a small charge to upgrade but this would be minimal compared to replacing the entire system. Find out if the new necessary features are available with your present software. Alternatively, choose a software program that adds these features but integrates with the program in place.

I recommend: SPSS provides a complete program that will plug into your existing CRM and work with your information. Confirm It works with your present CRM, help desk systems and call center systems. It is easy to use even when one is not familiar with survey software.

Select online market research software systems that have live customer support

The best software in the world is no good to you if you cannot reach someone to answer questions when that need arises. Software has an online guide but sometimes that is not enough when you run into a difficulty. Choose software systems with live customer support features to get the most out of program.

I recommend: Question Pro offers complete software suites and a technical support online trouble shooter. They will guide you through your issues in minutes; just click the appropriate link for the challenge you are facing. Digivey offers complete market research software with their customer service phone number right on their website. Call them for any issues. For less urgent issues fill out their online form and they will respond to your questions promptly.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  When purchasing your marketing analysis software consider purchasing other business software programs at the same time. Many companies offer a discount for multiple purchases.

Market research software has embraced the Internet, empowering you to contact customers and obtain service feedback, stay abreast of overall industry trends, or glean information on competitor movements. All you need is the most basic understanding of word processing and spreadsheet management, and a PC with an Internet connection.

Business research software has developed into a user-friendly product that guides you through the process, even providing templates to choose from that you can plug and play rather than trying to craft a project from scratch. Choose a package to fit any one of three phases:

1. Survey creation software for questionnaire development

2. Software for marketing research sample management

3. Marketing analysis software for data assessment

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Choose or craft questionnaires with market research survey software

All you need to get started is an outline: what do you want to talk about. Online survey software can go from there, even offering templates--standard surveys already hammered out, from wording to scales. Web survey software also includes two tools which keep the data from getting biased due to respondents getting fatigued. They can skip over questions or sections if they don't qualify to answer them, and questions can be rotated so they show up on a web page in different order from respondent to respondent.

I recommend: Allegiance lets you choose and customize a questionnaire from a series of survey templates; then you send the survey link via email to your list. The advantage of the template is the back-end tabulation and reporting in nearly instantaneous. ResearchExec has four options from the base level Classic to the Enterprise level to develop surveys, plus manage panels and perform data processing and analysis.

Control who you survey with list management Internet market research software

Now that you know what to ask and how best to ask it, supervise the process of who you ask with the right sample management software. This enables you to open and maintain a dialog reaching beyond the survey itself, building a community of suppliers, colleagues and customers, generating a continuous loop to improve products and processes.

I recommend: Kinesis Survey Technologies offers both survey builder and panel management software that enables you to manage an online community of over one million members. Easyresearch software splits into two modules: Feedback manager for survey development and data collection, and Action Manager that lets you customize follow-through procedures based on pre-set response levels or patterns from customers.

Comprehend what you've heard with market research analysis software

The most carefully crafted survey and comprehensive respondent panel holds no value if you have no way to comprehend what you've heard or convert it into action. Before buying market research software solutions, evaluate their capabilities in light of your business practices. Do you understand how to use the statistical tools? Do the tools and models fit with your processes? Can you interpret results to provide staff with easily understood direction? It's as easy to buy too much software as too little.

I recommend: For ease of understanding, Digivey breaks down its survey software into four modules: survey creation, data collection, analysis, and remote project management. The analyzer module produces pre-formatted top-line reports. Confirmit provides a comprehensive software package from initial survey development to final tabulation and statistics testing, including complex conjoint modeling. The software is scalable to fulfill functions for even full-service market research organizations including Microsoft, Nielsen and Greenfield Online.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Many companies offer their survey software as web-based Application Service Provider solutions (ASPs), marketing a CD with stand-alone software to load onto your PC. While this saves room on your hard drive, it also leaves all your materials, from questionnaire to final results, out on the Web. Back up your materials on a server, and be sure you can read those materials without the software. If the company produces everything through proprietary software, your materials may be encrypted and unreadable if your license expires.