Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between market research managers and product specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both a market research manager and a product specialist. Additionally, a market research manager has an average salary of $89,450, which is higher than the $85,932 average annual salary of a product specialist.
The top three skills for a market research manager include powerpoint, SPSS and data analysis. The most important skills for a product specialist are customer service, product knowledge, and sales floor.
| Market Research Manager | Product Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $89,450 | $85,932 |
| Hourly rate | $43.00 | $41.31 |
| Growth rate | 19% | 19% |
| Number of jobs | 59,408 | 103,863 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 69% | Bachelor's Degree, 64% |
| Average age | 37 | 37 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 6 |
A market research manager is responsible for identifying goals, products, or services through market research. You will lead and oversee a team of researchers, collecting information and data about market segments and reporting them to marketing managers. Your duties will include assisting in the design and evaluation of a marketing campaign in collaboration with other marketing staff, researching and developing strategies on customer retention. Other duties include investigating market conditions, defining and measuring key performance indicators on customer satisfaction.
A product specialist is required to have excellent knowledge about a product and work with a business unit to ensure excellent product delivery. Product specialists perform product demonstrations to customers and other stakeholders and assist in their promotions and product releases. To gain increased revenue, product specialists must be able to identify new market opportunities. They are required to conduct product and sales training for the marketing team. They must also provide reports about their product-related activities to the management.
Market research managers and product specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Market Research Manager | Product Specialist | |
| Average salary | $89,450 | $85,932 |
| Salary range | Between $56,000 And $141,000 | Between $56,000 And $130,000 |
| Highest paying City | Montclair, NJ | San Bruno, CA |
| Highest paying state | New Jersey | California |
| Best paying company | Credit Karma | ByteDance |
| Best paying industry | Pharmaceutical | Technology |
There are a few differences between a market research manager and a product specialist in terms of educational background:
| Market Research Manager | Product Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 69% | Bachelor's Degree, 64% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Georgia | University of Georgia |
Here are the differences between market research managers' and product specialists' demographics:
| Market Research Manager | Product Specialist | |
| Average age | 37 | 37 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 49.6% Female, 50.4% | Male, 59.8% Female, 40.2% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 5.1% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 12.3% Asian, 11.9% White, 65.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% | Black or African American, 5.2% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 12.5% Asian, 10.6% White, 66.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 10% | 10% |