Market research, in its core, is about understanding the needs, attitudes, perceptions, and expectations that drive consumer behavior so that you may leverage such insights for making business decisions. Market research will inform decision-making in the healthcare industry around things like:

Branding + Marketing-Who are the different segments of consumers we should be marketing to? How do we position our brand to resonate with them? What messaging will drive action among patients/members/users that creates value for the organization?

Product Development: What are the solutions that will benefit patients/members/users and improve health outcomes? How do they experience this solution? How can it be optimized to encourage adoption and use?

Patient/Member/User Experience: What is the current state of the experience? Where are their pain points? How can we enhance the experience to increase satisfaction and loyalty?

The methodologies deployed in healthcare market research vary depending on what you are trying to learn and ultimately do with the research. Primary research methods include things like focus groups, ethnography, and surveys, while secondary research involves analyzing existing data. At Campos, before we decide what the right research methodology is, we focus on clearly defining the objectives of the research. That way, we make sure we design a project that will produce the research insights our clients need to make informed decisions.

And that’s really what market research is about, whether it’s patient market research or market research with other healthcare populations. In the absence of research, decision-makers are left to their own devices, creating brands, products, and experiences that they think will resonate with and work well for consumers. But basing major decisions on intuition and assumptions is risky, with potentially very costly implications. Forgoing market research poses the risk of targeting the right people with the wrong message, targeting the wrong people altogether, bringing products to market full of pain points, rolling out brands that feel inauthentic, and so on. Talk about a waste of time and money!

Primary Healthcare Market Research

As noted above, we always start any market research project by clearly defining the objective of the research. What's the problem you're trying to solve or the goal you want to achieve? Once you've determined the objective of the research, the next steps are to identify the target audience for the research and then determine the right research methodology.

Often, the first part is easier: identifying who that target audience is for the research. In the healthcare industry, as an example, we've conducted patient market research focused on groups such as pregnant women, people with certain chronic healthcare conditions, and people over 65. The second part, identifying the right research methodology, can be trickier.

First, you need to determine whether you can use existing research and data to answer your key research questions ("secondary research"), or whether you'll need to conduct a new study to produce data and insights ("primary research").

Primary research can take many forms, and we advise on the right approach depending on our client's objectives, target audience, timeline, and budget:

Qualitative research generally answers questions such as how respondents view the world and your organization-and its products or services-through interviews, focus groups, ethnography, shop-alongs, user testing, and more. Qualitative research-or research that comes from conversation and observation-is about going beyond the surface level to understand the "why" behind consumer behavior.

Quantitative research is used when statistical validation is critical. Quantitative research involves collecting and analyzing numerical data or statistics, think surveys and large data sets, and allows you to form a validated understanding of consumer behavior and opinions.

Quantitative research may include segmentation surveys, which enable you to identify and understand the distinct segments of consumers in any given market.

Product trials are a mixed-method approach that allows you to gain deeper insights into your offering or product from a group of research respondents.

Secondary Healthcare Market Research

However, as noted, sometimes you don't need to conduct primary research. Sometimes there's existing data that can be mined and synthesized to answer our key research questions. Sources of secondary data and research include:

Existing patient/ member/ user data

Publicly available data would include things like government data, such as the Census, studies from the US Department of Health and Human Services, and published data from reputable sources such as KFF, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Syndicated consumer & industry research reports (ex. Mintel, IBISWorld)

Often, secondary research will answer some but not all your research questions, necessitating further primary research.

The Benefits of Market Research in Healthcare

When healthcare organizations make market research-informed decisions, it greatly benefits both the organization and the end consumer.

On the organization side, market research helps prevent costly missteps-e.g., rolling out an ad campaign that doesn't resonate with people-and ultimately creates value for the organization. Sometimes that value is increased revenue-e.g., attracting more new customers-sometimes it's more efficient spending-i.e, better marketing targeting leads to less waste-and sometimes it's outcomes that are strategically important to the organization and its mission-e.g., better healthcare outcomes for members/ patients/ users.

Market research provides the end-user with brands, products, and experiences which fit better their needs and wants. Research helps organizations design and optimize products or experiences that could make people healthier, happier, and more satisfied.

Following are some additional use cases of healthcare market research and how they benefit organizations and members/ patients/ users.

Refreshing a Brand Strategy

A strong brand has the power to forge a connection between a consumer and an organization, driving them to want to choose your brand over another. Marketers in the healthcare industry understand better than anyone that insurers and providers need to differentiate from one another and speak to their ability to uniquely meet the needs of consumers. Of course, that begs several questions: Which consumers? What are their needs? What are my organization's strengths that we can play to? And what sets me apart from my competition? That's where market research comes in.

Testing messaging

Whether it's a hospital's new ad campaign, a health insurer's new member brochure, or a health tech company's latest user guide, a huge volume of content is created by healthcare organizations with the objective of being both catchy and comprehensible to consumers. Not all content produced makes the intended impact on consumers, and that's why testing messaging before hitting the market is key.

Identifying the barriers to accessing care

Many healthcare organizations are focused on improving health outcomes, and key to that is understanding barriers to accessing care. Healthcare market research might help an organization determine what those barriers are for various populations, illuminating frictions related to geography, economics, chronic conditions, and more. Our research projects are often designed not just to surface barriers but to identify and test possible solutions.

Improving Operations and Services

Market research focused on the member/patient/user experience can chart the current state of a customer journey and identify parts of the journey in which customers experience pain points-like delays or confusion-that ultimately lower satisfaction and hurt a customer's relationship with an organization. For instance, healthcare providers can conduct market research focused on the patient journey for those people experiencing particular conditions, from diagnosis to treatment to recovery. Where are there wait times that could be lessened or avoided? When is there fear or anxiety that should be addressed head-on? What takes more time than it should? In the end, experience insights allow decision-makers to improve operations and services to better serve consumers.

Using feedback to increase satisfaction

Measuring and tracking customer satisfaction is as important to a healthcare organization as it is to any other consumer-facing brand. In many cases, these organizations partner with research vendors like Campos to field regular customer satisfaction surveys, assessing satisfaction with various touchpoints they might have had with the organization. With that quantitative data in hand, healthcare organizations can then use qualitative research to dive deeper into the satisfaction findings to understand the "why" behind the numbers. This quantitative and qualitative feedback is critical to informing improvements that will ultimately help raise satisfaction levels across products, services, and experiences.

Assessing Interest in New Products and Programs

A healthcare organization with a strategic focus on health outcomes improvement often creates new products or programs that can help achieve that. Healthcare market research helps health organizations identify opportunities for new products and programs in the form of unmet needs or barriers to be overcome. After a solution concept has been developed, market research can also be used to evaluate interest in it. For example, a health insurer may develop a wellness program or app aimed at helping people with a particular condition. However, before they invest any time and money in developing the program or app, they need to find out whether the intended audience wants this solution and whether they will likely use it.

Choose the Right Partner for Your Healthcare Market Research Needs 

In the modern competitive healthcare world, better insights power better experiences. A carefully selected research partner ensures your organization comes up with properly informed, data-driven decisions-true reflections of patient needs. 

At Global Survey, we help providers, hospitals, and healthtech brands understand their audiences better through specialized healthcare market research and data intelligence. Our bespoke research solutions provide actionable insights to help you enhance patient satisfaction, improve your service delivery, and drive meaningful growth.

With Global Survey, you gain more than numbers: clarity, confidence, and a trusted partner committed to transforming data into better healthcare outcomes. 

Global Survey — Where Insight Inspires Better Healthcare Decisions.

Nov 12, 2025