MS Excel for Market Research & Consumer Insights

Organized by: MarkHub24

Session Date: 9 August 2026

Time: 7:00 PM onwards

Mode: Online

Facilitator: Anurag Lala, Founder & CEO, MarkHub24

Overview

MarkHub24 successfully conducted a practical masterclass titled “MS Excel for Market Research & Consumer Insights” on 9 August 2026. The session was designed to help participants understand how Microsoft Excel can be used beyond basic spreadsheet functions to analyze market research data, identify consumer patterns, generate actionable insights, and support business decision-making.

The masterclass focused on bridging the gap between theoretical market research concepts and practical data analysis. Rather than treating Excel as merely a software tool, the session positioned it as a powerful analytical instrument for marketers, researchers, students, business analysts, and aspiring professionals.

Introduction to Market Research

The session began with an introduction to the fundamentals of market research. Participants were introduced to the importance of understanding customers, markets, competitors, preferences, purchasing behaviour, satisfaction, and emerging trends before making business decisions.

The discussion covered the market research process, beginning with identifying a research problem and defining objectives, followed by data collection, data cleaning, analysis, interpretation, and finally the formulation of actionable recommendations. Participants were also introduced to primary and secondary research, along with quantitative and qualitative research, helping them understand where Excel-based analysis fits within the broader research process.

A key takeaway from the introductory segment was that market research should begin with a business question rather than an Excel spreadsheet. This principle was subsequently applied throughout the practical portion of the session.

Practical Excel Demonstration

The core of the masterclass involved working with a comprehensive 2,000+ respondent market research dataset containing approximately 45 variables. The dataset represented an e-commerce consumer research scenario and included demographic, behavioural, transactional, marketing, customer experience, loyalty, satisfaction, churn, and customer-value variables.

Participants were first introduced to the structure of the dataset, with individual rows representing respondents and columns representing research variables. This helped participants understand how large datasets are structured before beginning analysis.

The session demonstrated practical data-cleaning techniques, including sorting, filtering, identifying duplicates, checking data quality, and using conditional formatting to identify important patterns.

Participants were then introduced to essential Excel functions used in market research, including COUNTIF, COUNTIFS, SUMIFS, AVERAGEIFS, IF and related functions. These were demonstrated through practical business questions rather than isolated formula exercises.

Consumer and Market Analysis

A significant portion of the session focused on using Pivot Tables and Pivot Charts to convert thousands of records into understandable summaries. Participants explored customer demographics, brand preferences, product categories, purchasing frequency, spending patterns, customer satisfaction, payment methods, marketing channels, and geographic differences.

The session also demonstrated cross-tabulation, allowing participants to compare variables such as gender and brand preference, age and spending, occupation and product category, and loyalty membership and customer value.

Customer segmentation was another important area of discussion. Participants learned how businesses can distinguish between different customer groups based on purchasing behaviour, spending, satisfaction, loyalty, and Customer Lifetime Value (CLV).

Consumer Insights and Business Decision-Making

The masterclass moved beyond numerical analysis to demonstrate how data can be converted into meaningful business insights. Participants explored satisfaction scores, NPS, complaint behaviour, repeat purchases, churn risk, marketing-channel performance, and customer lifetime value.

The session emphasized the distinction between data, analysis, insight, and recommendation. Participants learned that simply producing a chart or calculating an average does not constitute a market research insight. The real value lies in interpreting the finding and understanding what action a business can take based on it.

Data visualization and dashboard-building concepts were also demonstrated, including KPI summaries, charts, Pivot Charts, and interactive filtering through slicers.

Key Learning Outcomes

By the end of the session, participants gained practical exposure to:

• Understanding market research datasets

• Cleaning and organizing research data

• Applying Excel formulas for analysis

• Using Pivot Tables and Pivot Charts

• Performing consumer segmentation

• Analyzing brand and product preferences

• Measuring customer satisfaction and NPS

• Evaluating marketing channels

• Understanding customer value and CLV

• Identifying potential churn patterns

• Creating meaningful data visualizations

• Converting analytical findings into business recommendations

Conclusion

The “MS Excel for Market Research & Consumer Insights” masterclass successfully combined market research fundamentals with practical Excel-based analysis. By working with a large, realistic dataset, participants were able to understand how raw consumer responses can be transformed into structured information, actionable insights, and ultimately better business decisions.

The session reinforced an important principle: Excel is not merely a spreadsheet tool—it can become a practical decision-support tool when combined with the right research questions and analytical thinking.

The successful completion of the masterclass reflects MarkHub24’s continued commitment to providing practical, industry-oriented learning experiences that help students and aspiring professionals develop skills relevant to modern marketing, research, analytics, and business roles.