Best Market Intelligence Tools
Best Market Intelligence Software At A Glance
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23,510 Twitter followers
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Learn More About Market Intelligence Software
What is Market Intelligence Software?
Market intelligence software gathers publicly available or client-focused market information to understand customers and their behavior better. The software can collect data from sources focusing on understanding specific trends or insights from a market or consumer industry rather than one particular business or company. At its core, this software uses the multiple sources of information mentioned to gather a broad picture of a company’s market and customers to segment it to understand growth potential. This type of profile provides companies with a complete view of current and potential customers, identifies market opportunities, and informs decision-making. Market intelligence software is purely for understanding the customer and how best to understand their needs. Various marketing or sales personas most commonly use market intelligence solutions to establish lists of broad or segmented market data and insights to better direct company marketing strategy.
It’s important to note that there is a key difference between market intelligence software and competitive intelligence software. Market intelligence focuses on the consumer as opposed to competitive intelligence, which focuses on a business. Competitive intelligence is gathered strictly to understand and analyze competitors. These can work in tandem with sales intelligence software since this software can be used for prospecting and is often integrated with a market or competitive intelligence product.
What are the Common Features of Market Intelligence Software?
The following are some core features within market intelligence tools that can help users understand if it’s right for them.
Gather and organize market-focused data: The software can collect data from publicly available data. It can be related to education, finance, tourism, etc. All this data is aggregated into a more digestible view to be used by marketers or sales personas.
Analyze segmented market trends or monitor customers: After the data from various public sources and demographics is captured, it has to be analyzed. Market intelligence tools offer the ability to get this info from its largest and most complicated form into actionable intelligence to drive clear segmentation and strategy.
Provide insights on the market or market share: Users can better understand their target market once the segmentation or strategy becomes clear. Making campaign or marketing decisions becomes easier, leaving much of the targeting guesswork out of the equation.
What are the Benefits of Market Intelligence Software?
The following are the benefits of market intelligence software.
A deeper understanding of the customer: Market opportunities don’t come clearly. Especially when the metrics for success vary by demographic. The buyer will need to know your customer to have an advantage over a competitor and better direct the overall strategy in the existing market.
Segmentation at its best: By using real-time and data-driven market intelligence, the segmentation of personas will be clearer than ever. To find the best-tailored offering for a target market, it’s crucial to identify its relevant segments firmly. These data points can be found within the market research gathering capabilities and sorted into said segments.
Defining marketing strategies: Better market share win means a clearer understanding of the client. When it comes to the decision making or direction of further marketing strategy, the buyer can use this intelligence to cut out the noise and get directly to what matters.
Who Uses Market Intelligence Software?
Marketing professionals: Market intelligence was collected using focus groups from various demographics in the past. Now market intelligence data is at the fingertips of marketing professionals to better hone their marketing campaigns to penetrate new markets or focus on retention.
Sales teams: Account executives or business development reps often use market intelligence to gain a better market understanding of potential customers. It can also come in handy when forecasting future opportunities.
Challenges with Market Intelligence Software
Software solutions can come with their own set of challenges.
It can often be confused with competitive intelligence: It’s crucial to distinguish that market insights come from specific market segmentation of a customer and their behavior. Competitive intelligence is strictly for data regarding company landscapes and not trends, markets, or segments.
Distributing in-depth insights: While collecting market intelligence, a lot of information is gathered. Finding the information through market analysis and messaging can be challenging. Use relevant datasets that will work best in your existing market.
How to Buy Market Intelligence Software
Requirements Gathering (RFI/RFP) for Market Intelligence Software
For market intelligence products, the requirement should be that the software gathers publicly available and client-focused market information to understand the customer and their behavior better.
Compare Market Intelligence Software Products
Create a long list
Buyers must start by understanding which products won’t be a good fit. The next step is to compile the market intelligence features that would be essential, such as having a focus on client focus data or segments of customer behavior and customer feedback. If there’s one specific thing from a product that others don’t have but isn’t critical to the business goals, buyers can consider leaving that product behind to find one that checks all the boxes.
Create a short list
Once a primary selection of features is made of needs and wants, buyers must start identifying products that fit into this mold and ensure that these products meet all requirements essential to the key business objectives. Once the options have been narrowed down, businesses should consider reviews and objective third-party analysis.
Conduct demos
There may be an option to take part in a free trial, usually ranging from a week to a month of use, to help make the decision. Often after the trial period, most market intelligence vendors will include a tiered pricing plan that best suits the needs and size of a business. It’s essential during the demo period to make a list of questions that are crucial to the buyer's purchase decisions so that one can review them with the sales contact.
Selection of Market Intelligence Software
Choose a selection team
Unless the decision is made to use the free product version, internal stakeholders, such as immediate managers or department heads, must be included in this purchase. They will direct the strategy, and to collaborate effectively, they will need visibility over cost and implementation. Buyers should also consider the cost of a market intelligence tool and the implementation time.
Negotiation
Most of these products won’t require negotiation, but that doesn’t mean buyers should compromise on features, add-ons, or services. If a specific feature might cost extra but garner better results, buyers should consider it and try to include it in a package for the basic cost.
Final decision
The buyer should make the purchase decision with business goals and budget top of mind. It is important to align all internal parties on how this purchase or addition will benefit the business.
