Are you bringing a new animal health product to the market or testing a message that needs to resonate with both veterinarians and pet owners? The success of your strategy depends on asking the right questions and choosing the right research approach to get the answers.
This space comes with unique considerations to take into account. Your audience could include veterinary professionals, livestock producers, or pet owners, all with different experiences, knowledge levels, and decision-making processes. Other valuable audience groups, like large-animal vets or farmers, can be difficult to reach during busy times of year such as calving or harvest season. Factoring in both audience dynamics and timing is key to collecting meaningful insights.
Choosing the right research method starts with understanding the difference between qualitative and quantitative approaches. Qualitative research explores ideas, motivations, and experiences whereas quantitative research focuses on gathering measurable data and identifying trends and behaviors.
Both forms of research can offer valuable insights, but selecting the right approach depends on what your specific goals are.
Before choosing a research approach, it is essential to define what you are trying to learn and who you are trying to hear from. These objectives will shape the entire project from methodology to participant selection.
Start by asking: what questions are we trying to answer? For example, are you looking into market size, testing new messaging, or identifying unmet needs? Each objective calls for a different research strategy.
Next, consider your target audience. Are you looking to hear from veterinarians, livestock producers, vet techs, or pet owners? These groups each bring a unique perspective and their feedback can be highly influential.
Finally, be clear about whether you’re in an exploratory phase or looking to validate existing ideas. Exploratory research often leans on qualitative methods to uncover insights while validation typically requires quantitative data to confirm assumptions or measure impact.
Quantitative research focuses on gathering measurable, numerical data from surveys, tracking studies, or segmentation to help answer key business questions. This approach is ideal for when you need clear, statistically reliable results to support decision making.
Quantitative research is best suited for:
The major advantage of quantitative research is its ability to provide statistically robust insights across a broad audience. It is also useful for identifying trends, tracking changes over time, and validating assumptions with confidence.
That said, this approach requires careful design. Success depends on asking the right questions and reaching the right participants. Poorly worded surveys or misaligned targeting can provide misleading results.
Qualitative research is all about exploring ideas, motivations, and experiences in depth. This approach uses methods like in-depth interviews, focus groups, or ethnographic observation to uncover the “why” behind attitudes and behaviors.
Qualitative research is ideal for:
The strength of qualitative research lies in its ability to generate rich, detailed insights that numbers alone can’t provide. It is especially valuable for idea generation, identifying unmet needs, or shaping early-stage strategies.
However, qualitative studies typically involve smaller sample size which makes it more of a challenge to generalize to a larger population. They’re not designed to produce statistically representative results, but they can offer the deeper context needed to guide your next steps.
Sometimes the best approach combines qualitative and quantitative research to leverage the strengths of both. Mixed methods allows you to explore ideas deeply and then validate them at scale providing a more complete understanding of the market.
In the animal health sector, this often means starting with a qualitative discovery to uncover key insights, followed by quantitative surveys to confirm findings across a larger audience. For example, conducting in-depth interviews with veterinarians or pet owners can help refine survey questions to ensure they resonate with your target group.
Another common hybrid approach is using pre-survey interviews or focus groups to improve question framing, which helps avoid misunderstandings and increases data quality.
By blending methods, you gain rich, actionable insights while also securing statistically sound results to guide confident decision making.
Choosing the right research method is crucial, but it is equally important to avoid common pitfalls that can undermine your results.
Being mindful of these pitfalls helps ensure your research is well-targeted, relevant, and actionable.
At Vet Access, we understand the unique challenges of conducting market research in the animal health industry. Our deep knowledge of veterinary professionals, livestock producers, and pet owners allows us to tailor methodologies specifically to your goals. Whether you need qualitative insights or robust quantitative data, our team designs custom research solutions that deliver clear, actionable results.
We have proven expertise in accessing hard-to-reach respondents such as DVMs, livestock producers, and veterinary support staff to ensure your research captures the voices that matter most. Partnering with Vet Access means working with experts who know how to match methodology to objectives and unlock meaningful market insights.
Choosing the right research approach is essential to uncovering credible, actionable insights in the animal health market. Whether you’re exploring new ideas or validating strategies, aligning your methodology with your objectives ensures your research delivers real value.
If you’re ready to design a market research plan tailored to your specific goals and audience, Vet Access can help. Use our free DIY Research Plan tool to get started building your strategy today.