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Introduction: Market and Customer Research
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 makes 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.
Ultimately, your brand is how the market views it, not how you view it.