What are the Different Market Research Analyst Jobs?

Market research analyst jobs involve gathering and analyzing key customer data to better help companies appeal to their audiences. Researchers who concentrate on uncovering trends in the market can be found across many different industries, including consumer products, healthcare, publishing and technology. The position of market research analyst has become increasingly important to businesses, especially as they venture into the new media space. Salaries for this position vary widely depending on the nature of past experience and the industry sector.

In the consumer product and publishing fields, the market researcher is responsible for compiling accurate and compelling data on how users interact with a product or service. This analysis can involve finding out why consumers chose one product or service over those of the competitors and whether they intend to use them in the future. Getting all of this data and organizing it into an actionable plan to present to executive management is the main point of market research analyst jobs.

There are a variety of methods that marketing analysts use to achieve this goal. The traditional method is to survey customers, asking them questions in order to determine their intent while using the product or service. Focus groups, wherein a selected few from a particular demographic are chosen to discuss their experiences with the company's offerings, is another very popular method.

In the technology space, market research analyst jobs have taken on a new, globally connected meaning. Technology companies and companies in the digital media fields are more likely to leverage the Internet's crowdsourcing advantages by gathering marketing data from user-generated social media platforms. Social media sites such as Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter are gold mines when it comes to determining user intent and demystifying the customer's purposes.

Through tracking search engine marketing and search engine optimization statistics, market research analysts can further figure out why customers use their company's products and services over a specific period of time. Some market research analyst jobs have even replaced the traditional market research focus groups and surveys with the more dynamic and real-time nature of conducting market research online. This shift to more a more digital, Internet-based form of research and data mining has proven to be increasingly popular in the field.

Compensation for digging deeper into customer data varies by country and industry. The salary levels also are commensurate with education levels and experience. In general, however, a market research analyst can expect a fairly decent salary, even in entry-level positions.