Get Market Research That Actually Saves You Money

Hey, we’ll give that bar chart is beautiful enough to be in MOMA, but is it actionable enough to increase your bottom line? 

Too much market research belongs in an art gallery, not a strategy meeting. Glossy charts, colorful heat maps, and 80-slide decks look impressive, but if they don’t change where you spend, stop spending, or double down, they’re just corporate wallpaper. 

Real market research tells you which markets to chase, which products to kill, and which customers will actually pay you. Here’s how to invest in research that drives revenue:

Step 1: Use Research to Stop Selling What Nobody Wants

The most expensive thing you can do is market a service, product, or feature nobody actually asked for. Good research uncovers:

• What problems are urgent enough for clients to pay to solve

• Which features they actually use (and which you can stop building)

• Where they’re frustrated enough to switch providers

Example: Before launching a new software feature, run a quick survey or interview a handful of power users. If 80% say they wouldn’t use it, you’ve just saved your dev budget for something they actually want.

Step 2: Find the Right Audience Before You Spend on Ads

Spray-and-pray ad spend is one of the fastest ways to burn cash. Research tells you exactly who to target:

• Demographics: Who they are (job titles, locations, company size

• Psychographics: What motivates them (goals, fears, frustrations)

• Behaviors: Where they spend time online and what they engage with

The more precisely you define your audience, the less you spend talking to people who were never going to buy in the first place.

Step 3: Focus Your Messaging So You Don’t Confuse (and Lose) People

Confusion is expensive. It leads to high bounce rates, long sales cycles, and abandoned carts. Use research to test headlines, value props, and CTAs before you roll out a full campaign.

Quick Win: Run a simple A/B test on your landing page headline. If one version doubles conversions, you just halve your cost per lead without increasing your spend.

Step 4: Cut Channels That Don’t Perform

Market research doesn’t just tell you where to show up. It tells you where to stop wasting time:

• Track engagement by channel

• Double down on the ones that bring qualified leads

• Drop the ones that look busy but don’t convert

You don’t need to be everywhere. You need to be where the right people are.

Step 5: Fix Leaky Funnels

Sometimes the problem isn’t your offer. It’s how you deliver it. Research highlights where people fall off:

• High bounce rates? Your messaging might be unclear.

• Drop-offs between demo request and booking? Your scheduling flow might be too long.

• No follow-up clicks? Your email content may need to lead with benefits, not features.

Plugging those leaks saves you from spending more on traffic just to lose it again.

Step 6: Learn From Lost Deals

Every “no” you get is free data. A structured win/loss analysis can reveal patterns:

• If price is always the reason, you may need to adjust packaging or clearly show ROI.

• If timing is the issue, add nurture sequences so you stay top of mind.

• If competitors keep winning, review their offers and figure out where they’re better.

Each insight makes the next deal cheaper to win.

Step 7: Reduce Support Costs With Clearer Content

Support tickets cost money, and most of them can be avoided with better onboarding, clearer documentation, or a well-timed how-to email. Use research to identify your top five client pain points and turn them into proactive content.

Example: A company saw a 30% drop in tickets after rewriting their FAQs in plain language based on the top questions users asked. That freed up their team and cut their cost per customer.

Step 8: Prioritize Projects Based on Impact

Your to-do list will always be longer than your budget. Research helps you rank priorities:

• Which initiatives solve the biggest client pain points

• Which ones drive the most revenue when fixed

• Which ones are nice-to-have but won’t move the needle

When you stop chasing shiny objects, you stop wasting resources.

Step 9: Test Before You Build Big

Launching blind is expensive. Whether it’s a new campaign, product, or service line, do concept testing first. Share mockups, prototypes, or messaging drafts with a sample of your audience. Gather reactions, tweak, and relaunch with confidence.

You’ll spend less time cleaning up mistakes after the fact.

Step 10: Turn Insights Into Actionable Playbooks

Pretty reports don’t save money. Action does. Document what you learn and turn it into:

• Messaging guides

• ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) sheets

• Channel priorities

• Content calendars

Then, every team member will use the same playbook, and you don’t pay for the same research twice.

Market research is insurance. It prevents wasted ad spend, dead-end product launches, and campaigns that flop. When you use research to guide every decision, you protect your budget and give every dollar a job.

At Borrowed Pen, our charts are also beautiful enough to be displayed in museums, but they’re also loaded with actionable insights that will increase your marketing ROI. Borrow our pen to make every chart a revenue chart.