The marketing research process follows five steps, and to be effective they must be followed in order without omitting any steps.

The marketing research process is often outlined as following five basic steps: defining the problem and research objectives, developing the research plan, collecting the information, analyzing the information, and presenting the findings. However, in practice, the process can be more flexible, and steps can sometimes be revisited or occur in a slightly different order depending on the specific needs of the research project.