Introduction to Market and Customer Research
Atlas/Maps/Demand Curve Growth MOC
# Questions answered in this module
- Why do market research and customer research matter?
- How do I figure out who my target customers are?
- What are the methods for doing market and customer research?
- How do I perform customer research for my product?
# Why you need to understand your market
- New founders often start out thinking, “Our market is huge! Everyone will buy our product!” The reality: there’s a specific market for every product. And selling to them—versus everyone in general—is a key distinction.
- Before we dive in, here’s how we’ll be using the terms “market” and “customer” throughout this chapter:
- Market: the broad group of people interested in a product, including both buyers (customers) and sellers (your brand and competitors)
- Customer: the people most likely to buy your product, which make up a smaller, more segmented part of your total market
- Next, every company needs to do market and customer research:
- Pre-launch: Research validates market demand for a potential product. It also uncovers new problems that need solving.
- Post-launch: Research guides companies toward improving their existing product, getting more customers, and retaining current ones.
- Note that research is especially important for early-stage companies facing “market risk”—that is, ==when you’re not sure if anyone wants your product enough to pay for it. ==
- Here’s a quick framework to find out if you should be focusing more on market and customer research:
- Do most customers know your product’s main value props?
- Do people group your product accurately with the right competitors?
- Are people who rejected similar products willing to try yours?
- Do customers recommend your product to others?
- Would customers be upset if your product suddenly disappeared?
- If you’ve answered more than one question with a no, there’s probably some disconnect between your brand and your target customers—and you need to do more market and customer research to align them together.
- Your brand is ultimately ==a reflection of how the market views it==, not how you view it.