market research before launching a new product

Market Research for Launching New Products: A Step-by-Step Guide

• Posted on March 6, 2024
• |     Modified on March 13, 2024
• |     Starting Your Business
• March 6, 2024

Key Points:

• Understand FMCG vs CPG Differences
• Methods: Primary, Secondary Research
• Critical Steps in the Pre-launch Process
• Cost-Conscious Market Research Methods

Key Steps After Gathering Market Insights

Article summary.

• Business owners must know the difference between FMCG and CPG.
• Doing thorough research is vital for a successful product launch.
• Research helps owners understand what customers need and who they’re up against.
• Use both primary and secondary methods to research well.
• Key steps: know the market, target customers, create a unique product, plan marketing, test, launch, and track.
• Use surveys, social media, and interviews for affordable research.
• After research, work with a CPG branding agency for clear strategies.

Market Research Can Make or Break Your Business

If you’re launching a new food , beauty, or supplement product, making your product stand out amidst intense competition is likely top of mind. Going up against industry giants and established FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) and CPG (consumer packaged goods) brands can seem daunting. To effectively launch a FMCG or CPG brand and compete against established products, new brands must undergo methodical branding and packaging development and conduct thorough market research to define their niche and find opportunities. Our step-by-step guide on market research for launching new products will help you get started on the right path to a profitable business.

Before we explore the specific steps for market research tailored to new product businesses, let’s first define what is CPG vs FMCG.

What is CPG vs FMCG?

What is CPG?

CPG is a broader category that includes FMCG but also includes other consumer products for personal or household use beyond just consumables. In addition to foods and beverages, CPG spans apparel, cosmetics, cleaning products, pet supplies, and consumer electronics – essentially any product designed for frequent replenishment or personal consumption from traditional retail channels.

What are the 5 main categories of CPGs?

• Food and beverages:  This includes items like bread, juice , soups , cookies , and sauces .
• Household products:  This includes items like laundry detergent, paper towels, trash bags, and cleaning supplies.
• Personal care products:  This includes items like shampoo, soap, toothpaste, and deodorant.
• Beauty products:  This includes items like makeup , skincare products , and hair care products .
• Over-the-counter drugs:  This includes items like pain relievers, allergy medication, and cold medicine.

Examples of well-known CPG companies

• Food and beverages:  Nestle, Unilever, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Kraft Heinz
• Household products:  Procter & Gamble, Clorox, Kimberly-Clark, SC Johnson & Son
• Personal care products:  L’Oreal, Johnson & Johnson, Colgate-Palmolive, Unilever
• Beauty products:  Estee Lauder, L’Oreal, Avon , Shiseido

What is FMCG?

FMCG refers to affordable consumer products that are purchased frequently and consumed rapidly. These fast-moving goods include food items, beverages, toiletries, over-the-counter medicines, and other consumables found in grocery, convenience, and drugstore settings. Key attributes of FMCG products are their low cost, high volume, and short shelf life.

FMCG Key Market Segments:

• Food and Beverages : Juice, Soda, Snacks, Tea, Coffee , Chocolate .
• Personal care products: Skincare, Cosmetics, Hair care
• Health care products: Over-the-counter Drugs, Vitamins & Dietary Supplements , Oral Care, Feminine Care

Examples of top FMCG companies

• Procter & Gamble (P&G): Including Pampers, Tide, Gillette, and Crest.
• Nestlé: Popular brands under Nestlé’s umbrella include KitKat, Nescafé, Maggi, and Purina.
• Unilever: Some of its famous brands are Dove, Knorr, Lipton, and Axe.
• The Coca-Cola Company: Including Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta, and Minute Maid.
• PepsiCo: Including soft drinks (Pepsi, Mountain Dew), snacks (Lays, Doritos), and beverages (Gatorade, Tropicana).

Here are the key differences:

Cpg – consumer packaged goods.

• A broader category that includes FMCG as well as other consumer products
• Encompasses both durable and non-durable goods used for personal/household purposes
• Examples: food, beverages, cosmetics, cleaning products, apparel, electronics
• Sold through various channels – retail, wholesale, online etc.

FMCG – Fast Moving Consumer Goods

• Refers to low-cost, non-durable products that are frequently purchased and rapidly consumed
• Examples: food, beverages, toiletries, over-the-counter drugs
• High volume and high turnover products
• Typically sold at retail stores, supermarkets, convenience stores

So in essence:

• CPG is the overall umbrella term for most consumer products packaged for purchase
• FMCG is a sub-category focused on faster turnover consumer items

Some other key differences:

• FMCGs generally have lower price points than other CPGs
• FMCG marketing emphasizes volume, impulse purchases, constant promotions
• CPG marketing varies based on product category and purchase cycles

While there is overlap, FMCG goods are consumed rapidly and purchased frequently, while the CPG category also includes more durable, higher-priced goods meant for longer-term consumption. 

While FMCG places more emphasis on value pricing and rapid turnover, CPG products can span a wider range in terms of price point, purchase cycles, and shopping experiences. However, both categories are consumer-driven and highly competitive when it comes to earning enduring brand loyalty and market share.

Understanding where your new product offering fits within the CPG or FMCG landscape is critical before undertaking market research. 

What is market research and why is it done?

Market research is about figuring out if new opportunities are worth pursuing by looking at how much they can grow, who else is competing, and if customers are interested.

The primary purpose of market research is to tackle complex issues related to new product development, technology innovation, market exploration, strategic planning, and competitive analysis . Market research provides a crucial customer-centric foundation for businesses by deeply understanding their target audience . 

Why do you do market research before starting a business?

Conducting market research before launching a product business is crucial for laying a strong brand foundation . It provides essential insights and foresight necessary for estimating, refining, and precisely planning various aspects of the business. 

Two main benefits are:

Maintaining a customer-centric approach.

• Market research reveals customer needs, desires, pain points
• This allows companies to truly prioritize the customer experience
• Customer-centric businesses are 60% more profitable
• The STP (segmentation-targeting-positioning) process enables laser-focused customer-centricity

Making More Effective Connections with the Audience

• Research identifies the right marketing channels for reaching the target market
• It prevents wasting resources on ill-fitted platforms
• Content and messaging can be tailored to “speak the language” of the audience
• This resonates better and drives higher engagement

Investing in market research upfront highlights specific characteristics and preferences of the intended customer base. This insight allows businesses to align their entire product, positioning, and promotion strategy around those customers which leads to a more profitable business.

Types of Market Research:

Market research typically involves two main types: primary and secondary. Each serves distinct purposes and offers unique advantages.

What is Primary Market Research?

Primary market research for a new product involves conducting a specialized study by yourself to uncover the wants and needs of individuals who match the profile of your target market, typically by directly engaging with them and asking them questions about your product. You can achieve this using various interviewing techniques: face-to-face, phone calls, focus groups, and online surveys and competitor visits, to gather information directly from customers or potential customers.This method aims to delve into individual preferences, behaviors, and experiences.

What is Secondary Market Research?

Secondary research involves accessing pre-existing data, reports, and studies compiled by others, such as government agencies, trade associations, or industry publications, which can be obtained faster and more affordably, primarily through online sources, articles, reference libraries, or industry associations. Yet it also comes with constraints. The information gathered from a different audience may not align with your target audience, leading to biased data. Simply put, if you didn’t gather the data firsthand, it’s secondhand information that may not be as trustworthy as primary research data. It provides insights into market size, trends, competitors, and industry dynamics. 

Differences between primary and secondary research:

Primary research offers firsthand product insights into individual consumer behavior, while secondary research provides a broader understanding of market dynamics and trends. Both types of research play crucial roles in informing strategic business decisions for new product businesses.

Primary research typically requires more time as it involves conducting surveys, interviews, or focus groups. Secondary research, on the other hand, is quicker as it relies on existing data sources.

Data Collection Methods

Primary research utilizes techniques like surveys and focus group discussions, while secondary research relies on online sources and published materials.

Presentation of Insights

Primary research often presents findings through charts, tables, and participant quotes. Secondary research uses decision-making models such as Porters 5 Forces , SWOT analysis , and value proposition canvases to organize and present information effectively.

Why do CPG & FMCG Companies use Market Research?

Companies use market research for several key reasons:

Understanding customer needs.

Market research for new and existing products help companies grasp what their customers want, their preferences, and behaviors. This knowledge is vital for tailoring products and services to meet customer demands effectively.

Gaining competitive insight

Market research offers valuable information about competitors, their strengths, weaknesses, and strategies. This allows companies to identify opportunities, stay ahead of rivals, and make strategic decisions.

Developing new products

Market research enables companies to test new product ideas and gather feedback from potential customers before launching. This minimizes the risk of product failure and ensures that products align with customer needs.

Analyzing markets

Product market research helps companies determine the size of their target market and segment it into different customer groups with distinct needs and behaviors. This segmentation aids in targeting and positioning new products effectively.

Setting prices

Product market research assists companies in determining optimal product pricing strategies by considering factors like customer willingness to pay, market conditions, and competition.

Overall, market research equips companies with crucial insights to make informed decisions, spot new product opportunities, and enhance their operations.

How is consumer research conducted in FMCG & CPG companies?

Major FMCG and CPG companies conduct a variety of market research methods and techniques to gain insights into consumer behavior, preferences, and trends. 

Here are some common ways CPG & FMCG companies conduct market research:

Consumer surveys and polls.

Companies use online surveys, phone interviews, focus groups, and in-person polls to gather data directly from consumers about their purchasing habits, brand perceptions, product usage, and feedback.

Retail Data Analysis

CPG and FMCG companies closely analyze point-of-sale (POS) data from retailers to track sales volumes, market shares, pricing dynamics, and distribution metrics across product categories and geographic regions.

Ethnographic Research

Companies send researchers to observe consumers in their natural environments (homes, workplaces, etc.) to understand how existing products are used, shopped for, and consumed in real life.

Online Behavior Tracking

With consumer permissions, companies can track online activity like website visits, social media engagement, search queries, and ecommerce purchases to map the digital consumer journey.

Product Testing and Sampling

New products, packaging , and marketing campaigns are tested amongst consumer panels to measure product appeal, buying intent, and feedback before launching.

Ad Tracking and Testing

Advertising concepts, campaigns and media placements are continuously tested and optimized based on ongoing measurement of their impact on consumer perception and behavior.

Leading Indicator Monitoring 

Economic and demographic data as well as cultural/lifestyle trend reports are analyzed to forecast emerging consumer needs and sentiments.

Market Intelligence

Companies subscribe to market research firms and industry reports to access detailed consumer insights, sales data, competitor analysis, and macro market trends. Market research firms help companies understand audience behavior across media platforms by providing valuable data and insights for informed decision-making.

FMCG & CPG giants are data-driven

Successful FMCG & CPG giants are heavily data-driven, constantly gathering intelligence from multiple sources to fine-tune products, promotions and positioning in an intensely competitive landscape. 

For industry giants like Coca-Cola and Starbucks, product market research is an extremely detailed and multi-pronged exercise. Focus groups provide a broad understanding, complemented by surveys, questionnaires, social media monitoring and other techniques to uncover deeper consumer motivations, unmet needs, and emotional connections with products.

This comprehensive market analysis identifies potential threats and opportunities, tracks evolving tastes, informs improvements to existing products, and ultimately aims to boost sales by giving customers more of what they truly want.

While focus groups are powerful, companies leverage a diverse toolkit for research – from surveys to digital tracking to observational studies – to assemble a 360° view of the market landscape. Investing in rigorous, professional market research is critical for large enterprises to stay ahead of customer needs and make smart, data-backed decisions. 

Major market research firms like Nielsen , Euromonitor , and Mintel are well-known for conducting syndicated research studies spanning consumer insights, product categories, geographies and more. Their off-the-shelf reports provide ready market intelligence.

What is syndicated market research?

The key difference between syndicated and custom market research is that custom studies are proprietary, conducted for and funded by a single client company. Syndicated research follows a standardized methodology with broader scope, with the findings packaged into reports sold across multiple clients in that industry.

Many companies utilize both syndicated and custom market research, because syndicated provides shared comprehensive market intelligence more economically, while custom offers narrow but personalized insights.

For new businesses in CPG and FMCG categories, syndicated research offers a cost-efficient way to gain comprehensive understanding of market dynamics, unmet consumer needs, white spaces and the competitive landscape. This can be invaluable for guiding product development and marketing strategies.

What is the first step in marketing research?

For new businesses launching products in the CPG space, the first step in marketing research is clearly identifying the specific consumer need or problem you are trying to solve.

• For a new food product line, your goal may be to understand what flavors or nutritional aspects consumers are lacking in current offerings.
• For a beauty brand, you may want to research what skincare concerns are not being adequately addressed by existing products.
• For a supplement company, you need to identify gaps in the market for certain vitamin formulations or health focus areas.

In simple terms, this boils down to asking yourself – “What consumer pain point or desire is my new product fulfilling that competitors are not adequately serving?”

Conducting research at this initial stage aims to validate that you have pinpointed a genuine unmet consumer need before investing further into product development.

This step involves:

• Clearly defining the consumer segment/target audience you want to serve.
• Exploring their current frustrations, challenges or desires related to your product category through surveys, social listening, focus groups etc.
• Assessing how well existing CPG/FMCG brands are solving those consumer problems based on their product portfolios.
• Identifying the specific whitespace opportunity for your new product to fill that unmet need better than incumbents.

Without this crucial upfront validation, you risk developing a product that lacks a meaningful point of differentiation or consumer rationale for purchasing it over established brands.

Getting clarity on the core consumer insight problem you are solving lays the strategic foundation to then build out the rest of your marketing research, product development, branding and go-to-market planning. We will dive further into this topic in the next section.

How do you conduct market research for a new business? 

When thinking about market research for launching new products, new CPG or FMCG businesses need to first start with researching their market and understanding what gaps are in the market and where their is a need for a new product. Most new businesses do their own market research for launching new products versus hiring expensive market research firms.

There are seven critical steps in the pre-launch market research process:

Understand the market and competition.

Uncover surprising insights about the market. For instance, successful snack products often incorporate food-like ingredients such as cereal, nuts, or fruit to appeal to customers.

Analyze competitors’ offerings and marketing materials to identify your product’s unique selling points and potential threats to success. You’ll want to make notes about their packaging, website and social media. How are they talking to their customers? Is there anything your competitors are doing well? That may be a niche for you to explore. Download the competitive analysis worksheet .

Analyze pricing to understand how to price your product. Use the product pricing sheet .

Target Your Customer

Focus on prospects most likely to purchase your product. Consider customers currently buying similar products and how your offering adds value to their experience. Create a buyer persona for your brand.

Define Your Unique Value Proposition

Determine what sets your product apart from competitors and why customers should choose it. Communicate your unique value proposition effectively to attract buyers.

Determine Your Marketing Strategy

Utilize market insights to craft an effective marketing plan. Consider various channels such as retailers, online platforms, and email marketing for high ROI .

Test the Product and Approach

Conduct thorough testing of the product and marketing approach before the launch. Gather feedback from potential customers to identify areas for improvement and ensure alignment with their needs and preferences. For example if you have a food product, test at your local farmers market to get feedback on your product.

Roll Out Your Campaign

Implement your marketing strategy across chosen channels, keeping consistency in messaging and branding . Monitor the performance closely and make adjustments as needed to optimize results.

Track the Overall Customer Lifecycle

Continuously monitor the product’s performance in the market and gather feedback from customers. Stay adaptable and be prepared to make changes to the product or marketing strategy to maintain competitiveness and meet evolving consumer demands.

How to do cost-effective market research for a new product?

If hiring a market research is not within your budget don’t worry. It is absolutely possible to conduct market research for launching new products on a budget.

Here are some cost-effective strategies:

Leverage online surveys.

• Use free survey tools like Google Forms, SurveyMonkey, Typeform
• Share surveys through your website, email lists, social media
• Offer incentives like discounts or giveaways to increase participation
• Keep surveys short and focused

Social Media Listening

• Monitor relevant hashtags, topics on Twitter, Instagram, Reddit etc.
• Join Facebook groups in your niche to understand pain points
• Analyze sentiment around your product category and competitors

Interview Your Current Customers

• Ask for feedback calls/emails with loyal customers
• Incentivize with samples/discounts for their time
• Discuss what they like, what’s missing and suggestions

Low-Cost Focus Groups

• Recruit friends, family or offer cash incentives
• Use free conference call/screen sharing tools
• Facilitate taste tests or product demonstrations

Observe Consumer Behavior

• Visit stores/locations where your target customers shop
• Watch how they evaluate and buy similar products

Free Market Reports

• Check resources like government databases, research journals
• Look for generalized industry reports even if not product-specific

Competitive Price and Product Analysis

• Examine competitors’ offerings, pricing, marketing messaging
• Identify potential gaps or areas to differentiate

Start Small and Economical

• Test concepts/prototypes in one area before scaling
• Validate interest and refine based on early feedback

Leverage Your Network

• Discuss with distributors, retailers, influencers in your space
• Get insider insights about market demands and white spaces

Get Creative with Your Market Research

The key is getting creative, taking advantage of free or low-cost tools, and directly engaging with your target audience as much as possible on a limited budget. Start lean but make research an ongoing priority. 

Remember your brand is always evolving. As you learn more about your customers, you will continue to refine and tailor everything from your packaging design , to your messaging, to your social media marketing.

If you are just starting your brand you may be wondering how you do market research if you don’t have customers yet. Think about your family, friends, anyone who might be in your target market that will give you honest feedback. Think about who you know in your community, can you set up a table at your local gym to test out your new supplement brand , or maybe you know a the owner of the local spa and you can test your new skincare product there. If you have a food or beverage, a farmer’s market is a great way to test and gain market insights.

Steps to follow if you want to conduct market research:

• Develop a plan
• Understand the nature of the marketing problem
• Define the sampling method and sample size.
• Develop the survey tool and gather data.
• Analyze the findings and present them in a customer-centric manner.
• Extract the key insights from the data.

Segmentation, targeting, and positioning are pivotal in understanding the buyer’s journey and consumer behavior throughout this process. However, it’s important to note that market research cannot fully explain consumer behavior. 

What is one of the significant challenges for marketing research?

One thing to keep in mind is what legendary ad man David Ogilvy said:

“The trouble with market research is that people do not think how they feel, don’t say what they think, and don’t do what they say.” 

So before you base all your decisions on what people say you’ll want to consider observing their actions, analyzing their behavior, and validating their responses through various research methods. 

Another challenge for marketing research is the lack of time and resources. Gathering relevant data without falling behind the competition can be a challenge as well as conducting comprehensive marketing research can be costly and time-consuming.

Market Research Questions for a New Product

Examples of Market Research Questions

• Demographic questions e.g. How old are you? Where do you live?
• How likely are you to recommend us to a friend?
• Did you consider any of our competitors? Who and why?
• What do you wish our product could do?
• How would you rate your most recent experience with us?
• How long have you been a customer?
• How much money do you usually spend on X products?
• What’s the maximum you’d pay for X?

What to Consider When Creating Market Research Questions

Consider the following as you create your questions. Be mindful not to create biased questions .

Set SMART Goals:

• Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Timely.
• Keep focus on end goals throughout the process.

Understand Your Customer:

• Identify ideal customer personas.
• Address their struggles, desires, and preferences.
• Different perspectives from various departments enhance understanding.

Organize Questions into Topics:

• Prioritize essential information.
• Group questions by relevance and similarity.

Start Broad, Then Refine:

• Begin with general inquiries.
• Progress to more specific questions.
• Consider multiple surveys for detailed insights.

Use Conversational Language:

• Ensure questions are clear and unbiased.
• Read aloud for tone and clarity.
• Strive for a balance between engagement and neutrality.

Target Audience Selection:

• Focus on key stakeholders.
• Avoid surveying irrelevant or inactive customers.
• Consider diverse perspectives for comprehensive insights

Once you have gathered your market research for launching your new products or existing ones, what are your next steps? 

Whether you are looking to rebrand with your new market insights or start a new brand (check out our food packaging design guide ), working with a CPG branding agency to identify actionable insights from your market research is worth the investment. They can help you take the information you gather and design products with your target audience in mind. They possess deep industry knowledge and expertise, ensuring that CPG packaging designs not only catch consumers’ attention but also effectively communicate brand identity and product benefits. 

Market research for new product development in 6 steps

Market research for new product development will help you understand your users' needs, as well as potential risks and market opportunities.

What is market research in new product development?

Why do market research for new product development, the importance of market research in product development, choose the correct type of market research, how to conduct market research for a new product , examples of market research for new products, what product development idea have you been dallying off.

Picture this: you’ve got a great idea for a new product, or for improving your current product or service. At least, you think it’s great. When you explain it to others, they raise their eyebrows.

While you are incredibly enthusiastic about the product, they have critical questions about consumer trends , the market , and those latest developments in the world. Ouch.

‘My gut told me to go for’ won’t convince a lot of investors to invest in your idea. Plus, your designers, marketers and engineers will work in a much more confident way if they know that what they’re working on has a chance to succeed. The only way to give them that confidence, is through market research. And one of the most valuable types of research is that which you’ve carried out among your target consumers. This research provides you with proprietary data (also known as zero-party data ).

In this article, we’ll explore why consumer research is so important when you’re developing a new product or want to change something you’re currently already selling. We’ll take you through five crucial steps and give you some valuable tips along the way.

Market research for new product development can focus on different areas. You can research market viability, the demand for the product you have in mind, the features your target group is looking for, or the best way to position, price, communicate and market your product to your target audience. You take into account your competitors, market developments, and important trends. And whether you’re running market research for a startup or a massive brand, it’s an essential step to make sure your new products hit the mark. This can be a difficult task, leading many to consult US market research companies .

Market research for new product development is all about identifying opportunities and finding out if it’s worth bringing your product idea to life. And if so, how to do that in the best way.

It’s about more than what the competition is doing, and if your target audience would be willing to spend money on you. You can also dive into market trends to identify the best ways to market your product.

You can use market research to fine-tune your product development and the relevant aspects around it. Based on how your audience is developing, what price and type of message would grab their attention? What kind of marketing tactics are likely to work, and what channels dominate your market?

Consumer research is about understanding all the aspects of your market. You can approach it as a big puzzle, and once you have all the pieces in place, you can proudly present a solid plan or research to your investors and team, to help them understand why your product development idea is worth working on.

To get the best consumer insights, send a survey with our concept testing template . And for a sector-specific lowdown, find out all about the food product development process .

Market research for your new product development strategy helps you minimise risks and prepares you for a successful product launch. You get to know your market and audience in a way that helps you create not just the perfect product concept, but also the right messaging and marketing around it—something that will actually resonate with your audience.

Market research is used to base your decisions on facts, not just ideas and hunches – however good you might be at guessing games. Before spending time and money on a product idea, you get a good idea of how likely it is to be a success. This will also help you plan how much time and money you’ll actually need.

Investors and stakeholders will also want to see market research if you want to launch a new idea: they want some kind of security that the product will actually sell. Even though market research isn’t a crystal ball and doesn’t exactly predict the future, when it’s done right it can definitely give you a clear picture of how your product concept will be welcomed into the market.

Market research is not only important to verify if your completely new product idea is worth the work. You can also use it to optimise existing products, by keeping a close eye on how competitors are changing their products. You might even read online reviews on products similar to yours and see that customers are asking for specific features. This is also market research.

This also goes for adding new products to a line to supplement your current assortment, or if you want to start an entirely new adventure with your breakthrough product idea.

Market research for product development, whether new or existing, is all about listening to what is happening in the market. Step outside of your organisation and ask the people who pay for your products how you would make them even happier, or find out what trends you can jump onto now, so you can become a frontrunner in the future.

Product development shouldn’t just be done in-house, with your designers and developers closely looking at the product. It’s easy to get tunnel vision and build a product that’s more focused on what you can and want to deliver, and less on what the customer wants.

Market research done right forces you to step out of that bubble and not just look at how you can make the product shinier, faster and stronger, but how you can give it the right place in the market . Because product development is also developing a marketing and sales strategy . It’s having a customer journey and experience ready to put the product in and turn your customers into fans. All you need to do, is go talk to them!

Moreover, market research helps you determine what the marketing mix should look like, since developing a new product is never just about a product.

Turn customers into fans with market research tools

Compare the top market research tools of 2022, including details on their features and the best ways to use each tool.

Let’s get back to basics: what types of market research are there? We often lose ourselves in the wide variety of tools out there that give you data – but what kind of data is available, and how relevant is it to you?

It’s important to understand where data is coming from and how complete it is. How can you supplement it with additional research to get the full picture? Let’s look at the types of research you can – and should! – combine.

Quantitative market research

Don’t let the saying ‘quality over quantity’ fool you for this one—if you’re trying to make money, quantity certainly does matter. Quantitative research focuses on things you can measure .

How many people are interested in your type of product? What are they willing to spend, on average? Has that number been growing, been steady or are they willing to pay less and less? And if the latter is the case, is the group growing in size at least?

You can also gather information on how happy people are about a product or service. What’s lacking in this type of information is the motives behind it. For that, you need qualitative market research .

Qualitative market research

Qualitative research gives context to the numbers . Yes, people are increasingly interested in product X – but why is that? What were they looking at before, and what made them make the switch? Was it a change in price, a recommendation from a friend, something they saw in the news?

Now, it’s nearly impossible to gather qualitative data for all the quantitative data you measure. That’s why it’s incredibly important that you get that qualitative data from a hyper-relevant part of your target group. Don’t send out surveys to gather quantitative data from a specific part of your target group, and then ask another part to explain those numbers. That wouldn’t be helpful at all.

Qualitative data often comes from focus groups . You could find a focus group in the people that you survey, or by interviewing existing customers that fit the profile you’re studying. This will help you get a real-life picture of consumer needs and consumer problems. The best person to ask is the one you’re trying to fit into a buyer’s persona.

How is qualitative market research important for your product development process? It’ll help you understand the needs of your target market better. You conduct research that will steer your product idea generation in the right direction, gathered by real consumer insights and consumer feedback.

Of course, you can’t come to your market consumer in the initial stages of the process and ask them to design the product for you. You’ll gather the base information you have through quantitative methods and online new product development surveys , so you can ask focused concept testing questions to your focus group.

Primary market research

Primary market research is collecting raw data directly from your target customers or market by doing your own research. It simply means you only use data you yourself have collected,  from things like surveys and focus groups – no trend reports from third parties.

This is important for product development research , because you can’t base your decisions and product development process on someone else’s findings for different product and target group entirely.

Anything you directly collect from your market, whether it’s through focus groups, surveys, interviews or product research is primary data.

Inform your product development with our JTBD template

Get up and running with your next product development project and learn what customers really need with our jobs-to-be-done (JTBD) template.

Secondary market research

Secondary research can be done using existing data . The fact that it’s not brand-new information, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t hold valuable insights. You just need to collect the right information and connect that to information that’s relevant for your case specifically.

Secondary research can be done to identify business risks, for instance by looking at market developments. Competitor research is also a valuable form of secondary research. Through competitor research you’ll get a real understanding of the other options your potential customers have – a good starting point for any new product development strategy.

What parts of market research can you not skip over when your goal is using it for product development research? We’ve divided it up into five bite-sized steps that will give you a solid framework to work within.

Step 1. Exploratory research

Basically, this is researching what you specifically want to research. It’s completely normal not to immediately know what your research goal is, or how you’ll get there. That’s where exploratory research comes in.

You start by gathering secondary data on all kinds of aspects. Find things that stand out, developments that you hadn’t thought about and things you want to know more about.

With that information, you can start defining what’s most relevant for you in this stage. Where are your knowledge gaps, and how do you make sure you get the relevant data to make wise business decisions?

This is not necessarily about gathering as much data as you can – you want to keep it manageable and relevant. Find out what questions you can’t answer straight away, and focus your exploratory research on that.

Step 3. Define research objectives

After your exploratory research, you can start pinpointing what you really need to know to move forward in your product development process.

Will you be focussing on customer needs, or how to get a competitive advantage? Will the market analysis focus on product demand and pricing, or is there still a lot of ground to cover in the physical product and usage habits?

It’s important to have a clear idea of what you’ll be researching. Ask yourself: what actionable insights do I need to win in this market segment? Make your objectives as concrete as you can, so your answers will be focused and you can confidently use them to base your next step on.

Step 4. Define the scope of the research

Of course, market research is a way to minimise risk. But there’s always a risk if you’re venturing out with a new product. You can never get a 100 percent guarantee of what will happen, until you launch your product.

That’s why it’s important to define a scope around your objectives. It can also help you to decide where you can use secondary data, and where you definitely need primary data.

Step 5. Decide on market research tools or partners

Are you going to focus on the product or business as usual while a research agency does the heavy lifting? Or do you want to keep everything in-house? In that case, you’re going to be in charge of deciding what market research tools you use. And the possibilities are nearly endless…

There’s a tool for every part of research, but it’s important that you use tools that are easy to work with, and collect all the data you want, so you don’t need to glue it all together from different tools. Especially if you’re going to talk directly to your consumers, you want to use a tool that’s as easy and pleasant to use for them as it is for you.

Of course, we have some suggestions. Check out our article on the 6 best—tried and tested—market research tools out there. And if you’re leaning towards agencies in the UK, here’s our rundown of the top market research agencies in London . And here are the top market research companies in the US .

Or, if you’d prefer to focus on sending out insightful customer insights surveys, see our list of the top 11 Qualtrics alternatives .

Step 6. Concept testing

As interesting as the market itself may be, this specific research is still about your product development idea. Is the idea you have in mind good enough to enter the market, or do you need input to fine-tune it?

That’s where concept testing comes in. With concept testing, you create an MVP that you can show to your focus groups. You find out what they think about it. What features do they miss and love? What would they pay for this? How easy is it to use?

But, like we said, you’re not just developing a product. You are also developing the marketing and communication around it, and that also needs to be tested thoroughly. That’s why you can also target your market research at your marketing for the new or improved product, by creating mock-ups and testing messaging with your focus group. 

How are brands you love using Attest to do market research around product development? Let’s tale a look at US farming cooperative,  Organic Valley . They save time and money by using quantitive analysis for new product development.

‘For a lot of our day-to-day work we had been using other tools that weren’t necessarily user-friendly, easy to use or intuitive. We were looking for a tool with a fairly rapid turnaround and I wanted my team to be able to use it themselves, I didn’t want to have to go out and hire somebody else,’ says Tripp Hughes, Organic Valley’s Senior Director of Consumer Strategy. He saw a need for a tool that his team could use, without having to go through excessive training.

After seeing Attest demoed at a conference, Hughes brought in some of his peers to take a look. They now use it for market analysis, concept ideation and testing, creative testing, and messaging testing.

Hughes estimates that being able to make quick initial learnings through Attest saves Organic Valley between 10 to 20 times what it would cost to make the discoveries later down the line.

‘The impact is coming in reduced time and improved next-round thinking that we’re taking into focus groups where we’ve got a high-cost factor. If we don’t go in with the right materials and the right framework, we’re wasting money. And so Attest has helped us do a lot of the front-end work that then we’re able to go and build on.’

Read more about how Organic Valley is developing awesome products with insights from Attest in this case study.

We get it – taking risks is scary. But developing new products is exciting, and could lift your business to the next level. And while doing product development research, you could find a lot more inspiration about other improvements you can make in your business.

If you’re looking for a tool that brings you closer to your target audience and helps you find hyper relevant results, try Attest.

Ask the right questions for NPD

Learn which product development survey questions you should ask to discover what customers value most, from pricing to features.

Customer Research Lead 

Nick joined Attest in 2021, with more than 10 years' experience in market research and consumer insights on both agency and brand sides. As part of the Customer Research Team team, Nick takes a hands-on role supporting customers uncover insights and opportunities for growth.

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How to Conduct Market Research for a Startup

• 17 Mar 2022

With every innovative product idea comes the pressing question: “Will people want to buy it?”

As an entrepreneur with a big idea, what’s the best way to determine how potential customers will react to your product? Conducting market research can provide the data needed to decide whether your product fits your target market.

Before launching a new venture, you should understand market research. Here’s how to conduct market research for a startup and why it’s important.

Access your free e-book today.

What Is Market Research?

Market research is the process of gathering information about customers and the market as a whole to determine a product or service’s viability. Market research includes interviews, surveys, focus groups, and industry data analyses.

The goal of market research is to better understand potential customers, how well your product or service fits their needs, and how it compares to competitors’ offerings.

There are two types of research you can conduct: primary and secondary.

• Primary research requires collecting data to learn about your specific customers or target market segment. It’s useful for creating buyer personas, segmenting your market, and improving your product to cater to customers’ needs .
• Secondary research is conducted using data you didn’t collect yourself. Industry reports, public databases, and other companies’ proprietary data can be used to gain insights into your target market segment and industry.

Why Is Market Research Important for Entrepreneurs?

Before launching your venture, it’s wise to conduct market research to ensure your product or service will be well received. Feedback from people who fall into your target demographics can be invaluable as you iterate on and improve your product.

Performing market research can also help you determine a pricing strategy by gauging customers’ willingness to pay for your product. Additionally, it can improve the user experience by revealing what features matter most to potential customers.

When assessing which startups to fund, investors place heavy importance on thorough market research that indicates promising potential. Providing tangible proof that your product fulfills a market need and demonstrating you’ve taken the time to iterate on and improve it signal that your startup could be a worthwhile investment.

Related: How to Talk to Potential Investors: 5 Tips

How to Do Market Research for a Startup

1. form hypotheses.

What questions do you aim to answer through market research? Using those questions, you can make predictions called hypotheses . Defining your hypotheses upfront can help guide your approach to selecting subjects, researching questions, and testing designs.

An example question you may ask is: “How much are people in my target demographic willing to pay for the current version of my product?” Your hypothesis could be: “If my product contains all its current features, customers will be willing to pay $500 for it.”

Another example question you may ask is: “What’s the user’s biggest pain point, and is my product meeting their needs?” Your hypothesis could be: “I believe the user’s biggest pain point is needing an easy, unintimidating way to learn basic car maintenance, and I predict that my product meets that need.”

You can and should test multiple hypotheses, but try to select no more than a few per test, so the research stays focused.

Related: A Beginner’s Guide to Hypothesis Testing in Business

2. Select the Type of Research Needed to Test Hypotheses

Once you’ve formed your hypotheses, determine which type of research to conduct.

If your hypotheses focus on determining your startup’s place in the broader market, start with secondary research. This can include using existing data to determine market size, how much of that market your startup could reasonably own, who your biggest competitors are, and how your brand and product compare to theirs.

If your hypotheses require primary research, decide which data collection method best fits your needs. These can include one-on-one interviews, surveys, focus groups, and polls. Primary research allows you to gather insights into customer satisfaction and loyalty, brand awareness and perception, and real-time product usability.

3. Identify Target Demographics and Recruit Subjects

To gather meaningful insights, you need to understand your target demographic. Do you aim to cater to working parents, young athletes, or pet owners? Determine the type of person who can benefit from your product.

If you conduct primary research, you need to recruit subjects. This can be done in several ways, including:

• Word of mouth: The simplest but least reliable way to recruit participants is by word of mouth. Ask people you know to refer others to be research subjects, then screen them to confirm they fit your target demographic.
• Promoting the study on social media: Many social media platforms enable you to show an ad to people who fall into specific demographic categories or have certain interests. This allows you to get the word out to a large number of people who qualify.
• Hiring a third-party market research company: Some companies provide full market research services and recruit participants and conduct research on your behalf.

However you recruit subjects, ensure they take a screener survey beforehand, which allows you to determine whether they fit the specific demographic you want to study or have a trait that eliminates them from the research pool. It also provides demographic data—such as age and race—that enables you to select a diverse subset of your target demographic.

In addition, you can offer compensation to boost participation, such as money, meal vouchers, gift cards, or early access to your product. Make it clear that compensation is in appreciation for subjects’ time and honest feedback.

4. Conduct the Research

Once you’ve determined the type of research and target demographic necessary to test your hypotheses, conduct your research. To reduce bias, enlist someone unfamiliar with your hypotheses to perform interviews or lead focus groups.

Ask questions based on your audience and hypotheses. For instance, if you’re aiming to test existing customers’ purchase motivations, you may ask: “What challenge were you trying to solve when you first bought the product?”

If examining brand perception, your audience should consist of potential customers who don’t yet know your brand. Present them with a list of competitor logos—with yours in the mix—and ask them to rank the brands by perceived reliability.

While the questions you ask are vehicles to prove or disprove hypotheses, ensure they don’t lead subjects in one direction. To craft unbiased research questions , use neutral language and vary the order of options in multiple-choice questions. This can keep subjects from selecting the same option each time if they sense the third option is always mapped to a certain outcome. It also helps account for primacy bias (the tendency to select the first option in a list) and recency bias (the tendency to select the final option in a list).

Once you’ve collected data, ensure it’s organized efficiently and securely so you can protect subjects’ identities .

Related: 3 Examples of Bad Survey Questions and How to Fix Them

5. Gather Insights and Determine Action Items

After you’ve organized your data, analyze it to extract actionable insights. While some of the data will be qualitative rather than quantitative, you can detect patterns in responses to make it quantifiable. For instance, noting that 15 of 20 subjects mentioned feeling overwhelmed when attempting to assemble your product.

Once you’ve analyzed the data and communicated emerging trends using data visualizations , outline action items.

If the majority of users in your target demographic reported feeling overwhelmed while assembling your product, action items might include:

• Creating different versions of assembly instructions to test with other groups, varying diagrams and instructional language
• Researching instruction manual best practices

Each round of market research can offer more information about how your product is perceived and experienced by potential users.

Market Research as an Ongoing Endeavor

While it’s useful to conduct market research before launching your product, you should revisit your hypotheses and form new ones over the course of building your venture.

By conducting market research with each version of your product, you can gradually improve it and ensure it continues to fit target customers’ needs.

Are you interested in bolstering your entrepreneurship skills? Explore our four-week online course Entrepreneurship Essentials and our other entrepreneurship and innovation courses to learn to speak the language of the startup world.

About the Author

How To Do Market Research For New Product Development

Market research for new product development can be overwhelming.

It’s easy to get lost in a mountain of market reports with thousands of data points…. yet get no clear insights on which product is best for your brand.

Instead of aimlessly searching for new product ideas and sifting through endless market reports, this post will walk you through a simple step-by-step process that outlines:

• How to quickly find relevant new product ideas.
• Specific data and metrics you need to analyze each product opportunity (and how to find these metrics).
• How to use market research data to assess a product opportunity.

What Is Market Research For New Product Development?

Market research for new product development is the process of evaluating the demand, growth, and gaps in a market for a particular product (typically a physical product sold in a retail setting or direct to consumer).

These insights help you understand which products your target market wants, which ones are most profitable, and the key characteristics customers like and dislike about competitors' products.

With this data, you can more accurately predict which product will perform best for your business.

Types Of Market Research For New Product Development

There are four types of market research typically used for researching and developing products: 

• Qualitative research
• Quantitative research
• Primary research
• Secondary research

Quantitative Research

Examples of quantitative data you might collect during the product market research process include:

• Market size and growth rates
• Pricing data
• Sales forecasts
• Website traffic data
• Market share of the top competitors

Quantitative data is helpful for benchmarking and is often the main type of research used to quickly gauge the potential of market opportunities.

Quantitative data can be fact-checked, but accuracy still varies depending on factors like sample size and data collection methods.

Qualitative Research

Qualitative research is data based on subjective opinions.

An example of qualitative data is customer feedback.

This data is helpful for product market research, as you can better understand customer pain points and what they like and dislike about what's already out there.

Some examples of qualitative research methods include:

• Interviews with potential customers
• Customer reviews
• Questionnaires and surveys
• Discussion analysis (monitoring conversations on social media, in forums, etc.)
• Feedback from focus groups

Primary Research

Primary research is data collected by you or your company.

Here are some examples of primary research:

• Results from a survey you conducted
• A report from sales data your team analyzed
• Customer interviews conducted by your team

The advantage of primary market research is that it's proprietary data your company owns. So your competitors won't have access to it. You can also tailor the data to answer your specific questions about the market.

The downside of primary research is that it’s expensive and time-consuming. You'll have to conduct the research, clean the data, and analyze it yourself.

You can hire a market research firm to help, but this will make it even more costly.

Secondary Research

Secondary research is data collected and published by other third-party sources, like an industry publication or government agency.

Here are some examples of secondary research:

• Free and paid market reports published by a source like Grand View Research or MarketResearch.com .
• Statistics published by a source like The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics or the U.S. Energy Information Administration .
• Data in the Census Business Builder .

Secondary research is usually cheaper than primary research, so it's great for the early stages of product market research when you're narrowing down your list of product ideas.

For example, if you're interested in the padel market, search "padel market forecast" to find free industry reports. You can look at statistics like compounding annual growth rate and market size to quickly gauge if the padel market is worth exploring in more detail.

The drawback of secondary research is that the data quality may vary as you can't control data quality.

So research how each provider collects and cleans the data they publish.

Step By Step Process To Conduct Market Research For Product Development

​​In this step-by-step market research process for new product development, you'll learn how to find, validate, and develop a great product.

Step 1: Research And Identify Trending Products

Many people browse social media and Amazon to find trending product ideas.

But emerging products, by definition, aren't easy to find.

You might spend hours browsing these platforms to find a few promising product ideas. And even the most diligent product researchers might still overlook the best emerging product ideas.

One solution to find great product ideas faster is to use a product research tool.

However, each tool contains different product ideas.

So the tool you choose significantly impacts the product ideas you find.

For example, many product research tools only show products that have grown significantly in the past few weeks. These are often fads, and demand may die out when you’re ready to launch your product.

Other product research tools show you products that are currently trending. Yet this isn't helpful if you want to launch a product before demand peaks.

Or, the product research tool might simply overlook the best product ideas. This is common with product research tools relying on human analysts to find product ideas, as even the best analysts may overlook a great product idea.

To solve these problems, we built our own product research tool, Exploding Topics.

It has a unique trend identification and qualification method that uses AI and ML to scan millions of data points across sources like YouTube, Amazon, Spotify, Google Search, and Reddit. This ensures it consistently spots emerging product ideas. Then, we use Google Search volume data to ensure the topic has a steady compounding growth trajectory.

This process allows Exploding Topics to consistently identify emerging products with long-term growth potential.

It's also easy to use.

When you open the Trending Products dashboard, you'll see a list of trending products. You can filter the database by category (fitness, fashion, beauty, gaming, pets, etc.), BSR, monthly sales, price, revenue, and reviews.

The graph next to the product information also represents the keyword's Google Search volume trend so that you can gauge its growth trajectory:

When you see a product that interests you, click on it for more details, like a forecast of its growth trend for the coming year.

Further down the product page is a list of the Top Sellers for that product on Amazon.

You’ll also see related trending products and topics. You can also click on any of those products for more detailed information.

To track a product, click "Track Topic" and add it to a Project.

Projects are folders that live inside the Trend Tracking dashboard, and Exploding Topics updates each topic's growth trend in real time.

This makes it easy to gauge product growth at a glance so that you never have to worry about managing a product idea spreadsheet.

You can try Exploding Topics Pro for $1 to start researching product ideas.

Step 2: Analyze The Market For Each Product Idea

Your product is much more likely to succeed if it’s part of a growing market.

An easy way to quickly analyze a market’s general growth trajectory is to look at a market forecast.

Sources like Grand View Research , Globe Newswire , and Market.us usually offer free market reports with forecast data.

To find these reports, Google the product keyword and "market report:"

Next, identify the brands with the largest market share and analyze their growth trajectory.

If the market leaders are growing rapidly, the market is probably also expanding.

There are two ways to easily gauge a brand's growth.

1. Check the brand’s Google Search volume trend .

You can find a brand's Google Search volume trend by typing the brand name into Google Trends or the Trends Search feature in Exploding Topics.

You can also click "Track Topic" and add it to a Project to monitor growth.

2. Employee headcount

A company is probably growing if it has steadily increased employee headcount over the past few years.

You can find employee headcount data by typing the brand name into LinkedIn and scrolling down to the bottom of the company page:

Funding data is also a great indicator of a market's growth trajectory.

Investors spend a lot of time and resources assessing market growth, so a lot of funding activity is a good sign the market is growing.

Paid tools like CB Insights and Pitchbook offer detailed funding data for most industries. You can also search "funding" and the industry name to find press releases, funding reports, and other relevant investment news.

Step 3: Conduct Customer Research

Once you find a trending product in a growing market, the next step is figuring out how to create the best product possible.

First, identify what customers like and dislike about existing products. Then, create a product that incorporates the elements customers like about existing products and solves the pain points they experience.

The easiest way to conduct customer research is to analyze customer reviews.

Amazon is the best resource to find verified reviews. As you're reading through the reviews, make notes on:

• Target Audience Demographics : Who is buying the product? (gender, age, location, etc.).
• Use Case : What problem did they purchase the product to solve?
• Praise : What do they like about the product?
• Pain Points : What do they like about the product?

For example, from the review below, you can tell that customers value soft material, accurate color descriptions, and expensive aesthetics. You can also see that customers want a more durable product.

Reading through reviews can help you better understand your target customers, but most people don't have time to read thousands of customer reviews.

So you can also copy and paste customer reviews into ChatGPT and ask it to extract insights on audience demographics, product use cases, likes, and dislikes.

Here's a prompt you can use to analyze the reviews. (In this screenshot, all of the reviews are pasted in quotes following the prompt):

Here’s a snippet of the response it generated:

You can also find Reddit or Facebook groups of your target audience.

For example, if you're considering selling infant vitamins, you could join these Facebook groups for moms:

After joining the group, you can ask members about the product you're researching. Here are some specific questions you can ask:

• Why did they purchase the product?
• How did they select the brand they purchased from?
• What do they like/dislike about the product?

You can also ask respondents if they would consider getting on a quick call. One-on-one interviews let you ask more follow-up questions to better understand the audience.

Talking to prospects is also a great way to build up some demand for your product and even recruit a group of beta testers.

If you already have an audience, ask them about your new product idea.

For example, this creator asked her TikTok followers what they thought of her sleepwear product idea.

Then, she documented the product development process and gathered feedback from her followers to craft a product they want.

For example, after designing a few concepts with the manufacturer, she created another video of the initial product designs and asked her audience for feedback.

Her product launch went on to be a major success and she sold out in a matter of hours.

Step 4: Pre-Sell Your Product And Gather Initial Feedback

The best way to validate market demand for your product concept is to see if people will buy it.

So design a few product samples and then run a pre-order sale.

If nobody buys the product, you'll avoid wasting thousands of dollars developing tens or hundreds of products that nobody wants.

And if your pre-order sale is successful, you can use that revenue to fund product development.

For example, Nebia ran a pre-order sale for its bidets to validate the product concept.

There are a few different ways you can generate pre-orders.

If you already have an audience, you can create a social media post or email your list and announce the pre-order sale.

This post is a great example of a pre-order sale video. The influencer explains how the product works, its benefits, and how it solves common pain points.

If you don't have an audience, you can work with an influencer to create a pre-order video for you.

You can also run Facebook or Instagram ads to a landing page to generate pre-orders. Facebook has a step-by-step guide explaining how to set up and run ads for pre-order sales.

Another option is to run a pre-order sale on Kickstarter.

Nebia is a great example of an ecommerce brand that validated its product idea on Kickstarter.

The Kickstarter community will also give you initial feedback on the product before you launch it to the public. Kickstarter users also know they're beta testers, so they tend to be more forgiving if the initial product concept isn't perfect.

You can also ask some Kickstarter buyers to record video reviews of the product for your public product launch.

Step 5: Launch Your New Product And Gather Feedback

After launching your product, gather feedback from your audience to continue iterating on the original product.

If you have a social media following, you can ask your audience what they like and dislike about the product.

You can also email your list offering a discount or coupon to complete a product survey.

Survey tools like Pollfish and SurveyMonkey make it easy to create and send a product survey.

In the survey, ask specific questions about the product. For example, if you’re selling athletic clothing, you could ask them to rate the product fit, material quality, durability, style, color, and other specific factors.

If you leave the questions too open ended, people will give you generic feedback that might not be very helpful for improving the product.

Start The New Product Market Research Process Today

A solid product market research process takes the guesswork out of product launches by giving you the data you need to identify and design the best product for your audience.

It will also give you more confidence on launch day, as you'll have solid evidence of strong demand for your product.

To get started with the first step of the product market research process, use Exploding Topics to browse thousands of emerging trending products today.

Find Thousands of Trending Topics With Our Platform

8 Tips to Optimize Your New Product Launch in a New Market

Are you running a startup or getting ready for a new product launch and feeling afraid to fail? You have good reason to be concerned. According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of product launches fail to entice consumers .

Visibility into potential profits and revenues and the ability to perform market research for your business plan with data analysis can be crucial for securing additional funding or scaling your business. To help, we’ve come up with eight tips for you to maximize your odds of successfully launching a new product in a new market. These same tips can be used when launching a new service or brand.

How to launch a new product in a new market

When you work to expand your market size, you should keep in mind that there are always risks involved, including the possibility of incurring heavy losses and even layoffs.

Data-driven decision-making is the number one way to avoid the pitfalls of launching in a new market and improving your brand’s online visibility.

1. Define your target market

Entering a new market requires creating a long-term strategy that clearly defines goals and outlines milestones for your new product launch. What are the main user demographics of your target market ? Are they mobile-first or social-savvy? When and where do they shop online? What is their age distribution?

Answering these questions about demographics and potential customers is a vital step in order for you to present your product in a way that makes sense to your target market whether it’s in your marketing plan or in your design.

Your starting point is to calculate your serviceable obtainable market (SOM) and, based on that, prepare a list of primary user personas. A user persona is a fictional character created to represent a customer type that might use a product or service based on their use case and how it can solve an existing problem. For more on how to create user personas, check out this blog post by Hotjar.

Target market example: Young adults aged 20- 30, who live in the United Kingdom and are potential students or new parents. They’re very keen on online shopping and, on average, spend 1,000 hours and 2,500 British pounds a year online.

Questions to ask about your target audience before your new product launch

Defining your market is one thing, getting the right people to act is another ball game. These questions will help you focus and refine your strategy.

• Which action do you want your target audience to take?
• Who are the people most likely to take the specific action and use your new product? (get specific about demographics: age, gender, location, device, etc.)
• What are their pain points that you can address with your product?
• What is the solution your product offers for these issues?
• Which comparable products does your target audience currently use?
• How much does it cost them to use the competitor’s product?
• Which communication channels do they use most frequently?
• How and when are they most likely to purchase your product (is it seasonal, time-sensitive, one-time, or recurring; will they purchase online or offline, cash or card, etc.)?
• Which communication channels would they prefer for feedback and support?
• What can you offer as an incentive? What would be most attractive for your target audience in relation to your product (a discount, demo, free trial)?

The next critical step is to figure out the best way to reach the specific audience you are targeting.

Ways to reach your audience

Answering the ten questions above puts you on the right track. You’ve assessed which channels your audience uses and how they prefer to communicate.

If you are already marketing to a similar audience, identify your most effective channels by analyzing your existing audience’s behavior . Check performance metrics, such as top referring domains, social media networks and affiliates, views and conversions, email open and click-through rates, and engagement metrics .

Next, you need to determine how to leverage what you know about your target audience’s behavior for your new product launch.

Imagine the purchasing funnel and how you will gently guide your potential customers through. You will need to prepare different content types for different funnel stages and distribute them on various channels.

Consider the funnel

Typically, your initial effort will focus on raising awareness for something new. You want to determine the best tactics that let you create a buzz. Social Media, blogs, native advertising , infographics, other visual content, and video clips are handy for the top of the funnel (TOFU). Large brands often start building up the anticipation level before the launch date.

In the middle of the funnel (MOFU), which is the consideration stage, you need to start engaging and presenting your product features more clearly. When people evaluate your product and consider a purchase, useful channels are podcasts, webinars, free guides, e-books, reports, and reviews. You can use PPC and display ads to promote some of your high-value content.

The final step towards deciding is usually the hardest for the prospect. At the bottom of the funnel (BOFU) you want to help them take the final step by finding ways to engage so you can address individual pain points. Use email marketing to distribute gated content that lets you collect leads. White Papers, comparisons, reports, and product presentations can provide the audience with the needed input.

Another approach could be to offer live events, workshops, and conferences, or you could do a raffle, a contest, or another challenge on social media. Get more ideas about how to get started with your content marketing and which content is best for each funnel stage.

2. Define your goals

Goal setting adds clarity and is an essential part of any successful product launch strategy. There are a number of goals that are commonly found in relation to launching in a new market:

Financial goals

If you want to set revenue goals, ask yourself: how many product units will I need to sell in order to cover my production and marketing costs? When do I expect to reach profitability? How much income can I generate in a month/quarter/year?

Financial goal examples: Add $1 million in incremental revenue over a year; increase profit margins by 10%; boost customer retention or renewals rates; increase profit margins by 10%.

Customer goals

Are you releasing a new product in the market (even an add-on or premium feature) to an existing customer base or a tried-and-tested product to a new market? You need to understand who your customers are in order to anticipate the likelihood they’ll purchase the product – and determine your customer goals accordingly.

Customer goal examples: Sell a premium product to 1,000 highly engaged new customers; release and sell 100 units of a top-performing product in a new country.

Brand awareness goals

Creating a branding strategy is an important step in creating hype around any new product launch. Make sure you understand the various stages of your product’s positioning and then translate that into clear marketing objectives within your marketing strategy. It’s also vital to measure your brand awareness and track progress over time so you can evaluate and optimize your strategy on a regular basis.

Brand awareness goal examples: Increase organic website traffic by 20%; become a go-to resource for information about the topic your product is addressing by doubling the share of traffic for high-intent keywords; add 2,000 social media followers through relevant influencers and online communities.

3. Track and measure your progress over time

From the very beginning of your new product launch, make it a routine to track and review your key performance metrics. Use that information to tailor your offering to both your prospects’ and your customers’ needs. You can use an online tracking tool such as Google Analytics to gain an overall understanding of traffic behavior on your site. Metrics to look out for include: Sessions, Bounce Rate , Average Session Duration , Traffic Channels, and Conversion Rate .

4. Increase customer engagement

Whether big or small, all companies should seek out and implement ideas for increasing customer engagement. Engaged customers deliver 23% more revenue than average and are generally more loyal, making them less likely to switch to rival brands.

Here are a few things that can help you increase your customer engagement:

• Live chat : Adding a human factor (or bot) to your website, which offers real-time support, helps your visitors when they need you the most. Intercom is a live chat software that lets you easily connect with prospects and clients, improving their customer experience.
• Free trial : Sites that offer a time-limited free trial (giving users a taste of the product or service) are more likely to convert those users into paying customers.
• In-app and push messaging : With in-app and push messaging, you can deliver customized information to customers when they’re active. OneSignal and Google’s Firebase are two popular services that offer in-app notifications.
• Customer feedback: Proactively collect information shared by your community about their overall experiences with your company, product, or services. You can do this by using customer satisfaction surveys or market research questionnaires .

5. Conduct market research and analysis

Market research is never easy to do. There are plenty of factors and considerations to keep in mind when looking at your target market. Everything from customers’ wants and needs and your product’s unique value proposition to your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses. Capabilities relevant for market research include:

• Competitor Analysis : Uncovering your competitors’ online performance and market strategies.
• Keyword Research : Revealing organic and paid keywords that are prominent in your target market, as well as their traffic share and level of competition, in order to develop an international SEO strategy .
• Competitive Benchmarking : Understanding the target market’s attractiveness by comparing your website against a number of key competitors.

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6. Develop your marketing strategy

How you want to approach launching a new product in a new market depends on your long-term marketing strategy. To develop an effective launch strategy that is synchronized with your long-term objectives, identify your strategic challenges and opportunities so that you can define a set of marketing objectives to scale your business. Your marketing strategy should include a combination of multiple marketing channels – ranging from paid search to referrals and social media – based on your product, target audience, and competitors’ marketing strategies.

Your starting point here is to evaluate your direct competitors’ websites and the digital benchmarks in your industry . How is their email marketing working? Have they made any changes lately that have resulted in a higher conversion rate?

Then you can identify which marketing channels are underused by competitors and devise a plan to take advantage of the holes in their digital strategies .

For example, say you notice your competitors are not spending any money on referrals. You might decide to create an affiliate marketing program by reaching out to the most visited websites in several categories – review sites, bloggers, and influencers in the market you want to enter and create exclusive referral contracts in which these sites send traffic to your website based on monthly commission payouts.

7. Grow a niche

Having a product that has a unique benefit is just one way to differentiate yourself from others. Another great way is to tap into a niche market within a larger market that is being overlooked or unchallenged — for instance, selling electric toothbrushes that are designed especially for elderly people or offering an online delivery service for the deaf. The key here is to pinpoint your target audience and seek out as many ways as possible to let them know why your service is a fit for their specific pain points .

You can use Similarweb to do this as well. Simply look for similar websites or ideas using the Keyword Generator Tool , which provides hundreds of keyword suggestions that let you uncover the traffic volume and search intent for any topic or search query.

8. Test run your digital strategy

When you ask yourself how to launch a new product in a new market, remember, the only thing worse than not trying is rushing. Start with baby steps by exploring a product’s acceptance in a small segment of your market in order to obtain a measure of its sales performance. You can test everything from landing pages to email campaigns to early-bird discounts. Optimizely and Unbounce offer easy-to-use testing tools that let you run experiments between multiple landing pages and find out where your conversions are coming from.

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How to Research the Market Before Launching a Product or Service

Last Updated: March 26, 2023 References

This article was co-authored by Brian Honigman . Brian Honigman is a Marketing Consultant and the Owner of Honigman Media LLC. With over a decade of marketing experience, he specializes in consulting with organizations about digital marketing, social media, and content marketing. Brian holds BA in Political Science and Journalism from The University of Pittsburgh. In addition to being a Consultant, Brian is an Adjunct Marketing Professor at New York University and Francisco Marroquín University. His work providing consulting services, training workshops, and coaching programs led to him being named “Digital Marketing Expert” by Entrepreneur and a “Top Social Media Pro” by Social Media Examiner. Brian’s notable clients include The United Nations Development Programme, Thomson Reuters, NATO, and People Magazine. There are 8 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 42,695 times.

Researching Your Target Customers

• Demographic information can help you figure out who your consumer base is and how to appeal to them.
• If you want to open a coffee shop, for example, researching prospective locations' median income and foot traffic can help you choose the right spot for your business.

• Good survey questions include “When choosing which product to buy, which is more important: price or quality,” and “Rank the following list of product features in order of importance, where 1 is most important and 5 is least important.”
• You can use an inexpensive survey hosting website to conduct the survey, hire a market research firm, or administer it yourself.
• If you choose to administer it yourself, you can post it on your social media pages. If you already operate an existing business, conduct the survey through its social media accounts and mailing lists.

• Try searching online for university research studies and trade publications on marketing trends related to your product or service.
• Suppose you're a pet groomer and are launching a new boarding service. You'd want to place your ads at strategic spots like pet-related websites or a billboard that overlooks a dog park.
• Your ads also need to convince your audience that your product or service is worth their trust and money. To resonate with your consumer base, for instance, your pet boarding ads need to showcase expertise, reliability, and safe, clean facilities. This can be done with one of the best online marketing ad tool which is known as Remarketing.

Lauren Chan Lee, MBA

How are you going to educate your consumer? Lauren Chan Lee, the Senior Director of Product Management at Care.com, says one of the biggest challenges is letting people know a product exists. "When you're launching a new feature, you have to understand how you're going to communicate that feature to customers so they're aware of it. For example, you might send out a quarterly newsletter to keep your customers updated on what you're developing."

• Testing your product or service can help you prevent hiccups when you actually launch it. You can hire an outside party to conduct focus groups, or recruit participants through social media or your business's network, if you already operate one.

Tip: Before launching your product or service, offer trials, demos, and other promotions to influencers to build hype. For instance, send your new self-cleaning coffee maker to people with major Instagram followings so they'll promote your product. [8] X Research source

Analyzing Industry Standards and Competitors

• For instance, if you're opening a hair salon and there are already 4 salons in a neighborhood, it may be hard for you to be competitive in that location.

Tip: You should also look for ways to set yourself apart from the competition. For example, if you're opening a salon, you could offer a service, such as waxing or nail art, that's not available at a neighboring salon. [10] X Research source

• For example, suppose you make jewelry and want to sell it online. If parts for a piece of jewelry cost $15, you spent 4 hours making it, and you set your hourly wage at $15, the item's price needs to be at least $75 ($15 times 4 hours is $60, plus $15 for parts).
• If similar products are significantly less expensive, you could find ways to make your parts cheaper, such as buying in bulk. You could also market your work as exceptional or unique (perhaps your jewelry is made of sea glass from the Amalfi coast), or settle for a lower wage or profit margin.

• Suppose you want to open a brewery. To set your business apart, you could include a pub and bottle shop that sells a wide variety of beer and wine. While all the neighboring breweries just offer tours and tastings, you could market your brand as a destination that offers something consumers can't find elsewhere.
• A company's brand tells a consumer base who it is and what it offers. A branding strategy communicates that identity through marketing materials, from hashtags to billboards.

• For example, a restaurant's beer, wine, and spirits cost should be about 20% of its beverage sales ($20 of product should generate $100 in sales). If your bistro's alcohol costs are 29%, you'll need to take steps to improve your performance, such as adjusting your pricing or conducting thorough inventory checks.
• Search online, check trade publications, or talk to an experienced business owner in your network about your industry's specific performance measurements.

Assessing Risks and Problems

• Suppose you're launching a new hot sauce and your recipe depends on a specific dried chili pepper. You'll need to know where to source that specialty product, where you can get it if your primary source falls through, how long it takes to order and receive it, the pepper's shelf life, and how you'll store back stock.

• For example, your hot sauce could get recalled due to faulty packaging, or your pub could fail a health inspection. Knowing packaging standards or health codes in advance can help you prevent issues and promptly resolve any accidents that happen along the way.

• For example, tense political conditions in the country where your hot sauce's chili peppers grow could threaten your production.
• Say your state's legislature has been debating a bill that would raise taxes on the product you're launching. Consider how that would affect your bottom line and whether you could afford to stay in business if it passed.

Expert Q&A

• Search online for helpful local or national government resources for small business owners. For example, in the U.S., visit https://www.sba.gov/business-guide/plan-your-business . Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Your state, province, or national small business administration may also offer free services to help you learn about your consumer base, understand your industry, and minimize your risk. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ Brian Honigman. Marketing Consultant. Expert Interview. 16 April 2021.
• ↑ https://www.sba.gov/business-guide/plan-your-business/market-research-competitive-analysis
• ↑ https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/76364
• ↑ https://www.inc.com/shane-barker/4-things-you-need-to-do-before-you-launch-a-new-product.html
• ↑ https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/5446-porters-five-forces.html
• ↑ https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/10/24/18-steps-to-take-before-you-launch-a-product-or-service/#5bc003cd19cf
• ↑ https://www.investopedia.com/university/business-plan/business-plan4.asp
• ↑ https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/assessment/assessing-community-needs-and-resources/swot-analysis/main

About this article

Researching the market before releasing a new product or service can be intimidating, but by focusing on your target customers and getting to know your chosen industry, you can prepare a strong launch. Use government agencies and trade publications to gather demographic information about your customers, like age, gender, and location, so you can tailor your advertising to their interests. You could also release a short survey to find out how consumers buy products or services like yours. Since you’ll be competing with other businesses, find out how they operate and how much they charge for their products so you can offer an attractive alternative. Additionally, research their advertising strategies to help you come up with ways to stand out from the crowd. For tips from our Business co-author on how to research potential risks, such as external events or legal regulations, keep reading! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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3 ways to use market research for product development.

Right off the bat, let’s make sure we’re on the same page in terms of definitions.

In its simplest form, a market consists of buyers and sellers. Technically, we could also include suppliers, partners, regulators—but that’s an unnecessary level of complexity for this blog post.

Market research , therefore, is the process of gathering information about the buyers and sellers within a given market. Meanwhile, product development is the process of conceptualizing, creating, and launching a product. It begins with ideation, and it … well, it never really ends . The “final” stage of product development is iteration.

Simply put, it’s extraordinarily difficult to launch a successful product without conducting some form of market research. At a minimum, you need to know what drives your prospects, who you’re competing with, and how those competitors position themselves to your shared audience.

Cool? Cool. Now, let’s discuss three ways your company (or business unit) can use market research throughout the process of conceptualizing, creating, and launching a new product:

• To generate your initial ideas (conceptualizing)
• To work out the kinks before you launch (creating)
• To optimize your messaging (launching)

1. Generate your initial ideas (conceptualizing)

Some products are happy accidents. In the mid-20th century, a Canadian engineer named John Hopps “serendipitously observed that an electrical impulse would cause the heart to contract and that repetitive stimuli would allow this to occur over a prolonged time.”

The pacemaker was born .

It’s a remarkable story. But, alas, we can’t all be John Hopps; we can’t all rely on serendipity. What you can rely on is data. Specifically, you can use primary and secondary data to identify pain points —which, in turn, can spark initial ideas for new products.

As an example, let’s say you work for an education solutions company that’s known for helping teachers with math instruction. This specialization has served the brand well up until this point, but the time has come to branch out—and you’ve been tasked with leading the effort to develop the company’s new breakthrough product.

In this case, you could gather primary data by surveying teachers and administrators at the schools that already use your company’s existing solutions. Outside of math, in what subject are students finding the most difficulty? What specific roadblocks make this subject so difficult? Do students tend to respond particularly well to certain methods of instruction, such as animated videos or hands-on activities? Answers to questions like these can help build the foundation of your team’s early brainstorms.

Of course, it’s often wise to supplement primary data with secondary data. In the education world—and many other industries—government websites are gold mines of free information. Here in the U.S., the Department of Education has dedicated an entire section of their website to data and statistics. By synthesizing third-party quantitative research with your own qualitative research, you and your team can get a strong sense of what students are struggling with—and use that as a launchpad for early ideation.

The takeaway

Although you probably don’t work for an education solutions company like the hypothetical one we’ve described, the point remains: Identifying pain points helps to jumpstart the product development process, and your team can do it by (1) interviewing customers and (2) diving into data that other organizations have already gathered.

Competitive best practice

For each of your initial ideas, do a quick Google search to get a sense of what your future competitive landscape may look like. Is it a crowded space? How are existing sellers differentiated from one another? Is there a lot of hype surrounding this industry? The sooner you adopt a competitive mindset, the better.

2. Work out the kinks before you launch (creating)

Let’s fast forward. At this point in the product development process, you and your team have settled on a problem that needs to be solved and begun working on a potential solution.

Once again, an example is useful here. Say you work for a pet supplies company. One of the company’s most lucrative product lines is a variety of cat litters, and through your initial market research, you’ve identified a major pain point: Disposing of used cat litter is a hassle—and it often feels unsanitary. As such, your team has created a prototype of a device that purports to enable quick, clean, and odorless disposal.

Although you know for a fact that litter disposal is a pain point amongst your target audience, you do not know for a fact that consumers will find success with your new product. And that’s where prototype testing comes in.

Prototype testing is the process of observing people as they use your prototype and collecting their feedback on the user experience. The goal, of course, is to identify any issues that need to be remedied before moving forward in the development process. Ultimately, prototype testing enables you to learn more about your prospects’ tendencies and preferences and, in turn, create the best solution possible. Oh—and it saves your company a lot of money in the long run.

Sticking with our example of the litter disposal device, issues that may be identified through prototype testing include:

• Unintuitive design
• Insufficient odor protection
• Lack of durability

Different types of companies practice prototype testing in different ways; using a cat litter disposal device and using an email marketing tool are two very different experiences. In general, however, it’s critical to choose the right audience. As product design expert Caitlin Goodale says , “you want a diverse group of testers [that reflect] the different personas within your product—as well as people who are not currently users but might become them.”

Although you’re probably not in the cat litter business, the point remains: Knowing what to solve is one thing; knowing how to solve it is another. Working out the kinks prior to launch day is an essential step towards creating a successful product, and your team can do it by observing people as they engage with early iterations.

If public customer reviews are available in your industry, make sure to check them out; at this stage, negative reviews are particularly valuable. Do you see any flaws across each of your competitor’s products? Any defects that drive buyers in this market crazy? If so, pay special attention to these details when testing your prototype. For example, if several competitors have gotten complaints about durability, you’d better make sure you’re testing all the different ways your prototype could potentially suffer damage.

3. Optimize your messaging (launching)

Let’s fast forward one more time. At this point in the product development process, you and your team are putting the finishing touches on a product that’s ready to launch .

This time, let’s say your company is known for selling technical content management software to manufacturers. In the earliest stages of product development, you learned that translating documentation into different languages is a major pain point. After months of building, testing, and tweaking, your team is just about ready to introduce your translation solution to the world.

Although you know for a fact that your new product is a viable solution to the translation problem, you do not know for a fact that prospects will be drawn to it. And that’s where message testing comes in.

To be clear, message testing—the process of determining which marketing messages are most effective amongst your target audience—is not strictly a pre-launch exercise. In fact, message testing can and should take place well after a product has been brought to market. For the purposes of this blog post, however, we’ll focus on pre-launch message testing.

Pre-launch message testing entails the collection of qualitative feedback from both internal stakeholders—your colleagues—and external stakeholders—your customers. Whereas the former group is intimately familiar with your brand’s overarching identity and story, the latter group is intimately familiar with the challenges that your new product purports to address.

Issues that may be identified through pre-launch message testing include:

• Misalignment with your company’s brand promise
• Unclear value proposition
• Insufficient differentiation from other solutions

Again, message testing can and should be conducted throughout the product life cycle. But pre-launch testing in particular is important because it gives your new product a better chance of succeeding right out of the gate—which, in turn, boosts employee morale, improves brand authority, and enables immediate feedback collection.

Chances are your company has nothing to do with translation, but it doesn’t matter: Even the strongest of products cannot survive lackluster marketing. Optimizing your messaging prior to launch day makes immediate success all the more attainable, and your team can do it by tapping the minds of colleagues and customers alike.

If the product you’re launching is not the first of its kind, take note of how your competitors position and promote their alternatives. And if the product you’re launching is the first of its kind—but your company has competitors within other business units—you should still take note of your competitors’ marketing strategies. Even if they don’t offer direct alternatives to your new product, they’re probably still on your prospects’ radars in some capacity.

Using real-time market data to optimize product development

Want access to competitive intelligence as soon as you start conceptualizing a new product? Want a centralized repository of every customer review across your industry? Want side-by-side snapshots of changes to your competitors’ positioning and messaging?

That’s only scratching the surface of what’s offered by Crayon—the award-winning competitive intelligence platform that enables you to track, analyze, and act on everything happening outside the four walls of your business. Request a demo today , and start competing like you mean it.

See why Gong, Mastercard, and ZoomInfo trust Crayon to help them win more competitive deals.

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How to Do Market Research for a New Product or Business

Rev › Blog › Marketing › How to Do Market Research for a New Product or Business

No Olympic diver jumps into the water without preparing beforehand. For best results, they need to approach it with a plan of action. And the only way that can happen is if they familiarize themselves with the water. They need to know how they’re going to interact with it first.

This simple sports analogy explains why companies need market research before any major product launch or business plan. The water below is the market. The practice sessions are research.

You might have the perfect move to test out in your next diving attempt, but if you don’t put enough practice, you’ll end up hitting the water flat on your face. Likewise, your great product or business idea could have merit on its own. But if you don’t know how it’ll interact with your target market, it could die unnoticed at best or cause a backlash at worst.

Why do market research?

Conducting market research can save you from that fate by identifying your strengths and weaknesses. It can give you room to tweak and optimize before jumping straight into the unknown. 

You can use it to answer specific questions or gather data about a single topic. Here’s an example of the types of market research:

• Competitor analysis: Researching how competitive your product or service is compared to others in the market or market analysis in general as it relates to your competitors.
• Consumer insights: Studying consumer behavior in your target market, such as purchasing habits, barriers in the buyer’s journey, etc.
• Product testing and development: Finding out how certain product features perform in the market and what value users gain from them.
• Customer satisfaction: Researching satisfaction levels among your customers regarding your company or others in the market and identifying needs.  

Based on the area you want to investigate, there are different methods that may be more appropriate. Some of these methods are:

• Focus groups
• Phone interviews
• Email surveys
• 1-on-1 sessions
• Collecting data from secondary sources

You can use a combination of methods or focus on a select few. For instance, if you’re looking into your product’s usability, it makes sense to interview your users to get in-depth feedback. It also helps to look at existing market research on the topic to inform you further.

Primary vs Secondary research

Generally, there are two stages of market research: primary and secondary. Categorizing your objectives into either one can help speed up the process by identifying the best tools and methods you’ll need for each type of research.

Primary research

• Firsthand research that can employ methods like focus groups, surveys, and interviews.
• The goal is to uncover direct information and feedback from sources that might not be readily available elsewhere to apply to your product or service.

Secondary research

• Secondhand research that includes collecting and studying previously conducted research via scholarly articles, whitepapers, publicly available statistics, as well as internal marketing, sales, or research data.
• The goal is to get an overall view of market trends and consumer behavior that could be useful for your product or service.

Depending on what type of research you’re performing, there may be different tools you can use to make the process as efficient as possible.

What is your goal for conducting market research?

You know market research can help you test the waters. But if you go into it with only a vague notion of what you want to achieve, it won’t be very effective. Why? Because with very few exceptions, most products, marketing plans, and business strategies target a select audience rather than anyone and their aunt.

As basic as it sounds, the first step you need to take before doing market research is to define a set of objectives. This could mean anything from learning more about a key demographic’s buying habits to finding out what consumers like most about your product.

While market research is broadly about gathering information, knowing precisely which information you need to improve your business plan or product will help you conduct the research more efficiently.

Some examples of market research objectives

• Finding out what your competitors are doing successfully that you’re not to find specific areas of improvement
• Collecting market data related to your industry, product, or target demographics to make sure you’re in line with current and future trends 
• Gathering information on consumer behavior to hone in on features, price points, or marketing strategies that work best

What is the best way to find your target market?

Finding your ideal target market is crucial for the next step of the market research –– reaching out to current and potential customers.

Identifying your target market requires a thorough understanding of your product or service offerings and their uses. If your research is about an existing line of products, you probably already have customer data that can lead you to uncover trends and patterns.

Here are some questions to ask that can narrow down your target market:

• Which age demographic makes the most frequent and/or highest-value purchases? 
• Does your repeat/most loyal customer base consist of single or multi-family households? Is there a certain income level that’s the most prevalent?
• Which job titles seem to appear most often among your customers? Is there a connection to your product/service and the job/industry?

If you don’t have previous customer data, you can reverse-engineer based on your product or service to determine who might benefit most from your offering.

Demographics vs Personas

Once you’ve nailed down the basic demographic data, you can move onto creating a detailed customer persona. Without this step, you might be stuck with a very large demographic that will only give you a very generalized understanding of their perception or relationship with your product. 

The target market for your research should be neither too broad nor too narrow. To find out which of your current or potential customers you could get useful feedback from, start with the key demographic data, then specify further using surveys to get more detailed information about their wants/needs and interests.

Key demographics

• Biographical data such as age, gender, income, location, job title, and family size

Customer persona

• Detailed information about specific interests, hobbies, needs, and challenges that your product or service can solve

For example, a target demographic might be young women between the ages of 18-35 who live in bigger cities with an income between $40,000 – $60,000. A customer persona expands further, e.g. those in the above demographic who need reliable public transportation; they prefer ride-sharing services despite higher costs if it means getting somewhere faster.  Having a detailed buyer persona is not only effective for conducting market research but for reaching key benchmarks and driving revenue. A  2016 Cintell study  on the topic revealed that companies who reach or exceed their revenue goals are twice as likely to work with customer personas, while 70% of those who missed these marks did not conduct  qualitative persona interviews .

What’s the most effective method for data analysis?

Whether you collect data from  focus groups , email surveys, phone or in-person interviews, or secondary sources available online, data collection and analysis can often be a very time-consuming process.

First, you’ll need to go through numerous sources and peruse through copious amounts of interviews and documents, then extract the most relevant bits to present a solid report. There’s an invariable amount of paperwork that can result in a very tedious process. 

To save yourself this headache, the best way to streamline this process is by using the right  market research tools  like scheduling software, voice recording apps, and transcription services.

How to save time and achieve higher data accuracy 

There’s one tool we think is indispensable for market research––transcription services. While many tools can ease administrative processes, transcriptions are invaluable when it comes to data analysis. 

Think about it. Once you’ve gathered all the information you need through focus groups, user interviews, and phone surveys, distilling that data is critical to generate your market research report. Even a large volume of data is useless if you can’t analyze the information properly.  

Unfortunately, a lot of things can get lost in translation if you’re not prepared. Jotting down scribbled notes while trying to focus on what the interviewee is telling you, or trying to decipher what’s being said over an unstable phone connection can result in misinformation or misinterpretation. What’s more, poring through audios and notes can be an extremely time-consuming process.

This is why transcription is a necessary tool to ensure the  highest accuracy and speed . It also saves a lot of headaches during the interview process because you can rest easy knowing you’ll have an accurate transcription to work from later. This lets you to focus on the interview at hand rather than trying to make clean notes.

How to do qualitative analysis with transcriptions

Unlike statistical data that you can easily quantify, interview transcripts are trickier to interpret. The data points may not be immediately apparent because you’re working with a large volume of subjective opinions and feedback. 

The process of going through this data is called qualitative analysis .

Here’s a step-by-step guide (you can read more about it here ):

• Read the transcripts: It’s important to look out for bias and eliminate those pieces during this stage.
• Annotate the transcripts: This is a useful way to organize the data. Make annotations on the transcripts for keywords or ideas so it’s easy to refer back later.
• Conceptualize the data: By this point, you’ll have identified some running themes in the data. Categorize the information according to these themes to compile into a final report.
• Segment the data: Make connections between your categories to form a cohesive report.
• Analyze the segments: Now review these segments thoroughly in order to summarize the results.
• Write the results: Using all the data segments, write a final interpretation of the results in an objective tone, backed by both qualitative and quantitative research data.

Transcription is essential to market research analysis

Rev’s  transcription services  allow you to do your work without worrying about lost or inaccurate information. Whether you’re conducting a focus group or a phone survey, contact us today to get started on your market research.

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Market Research for New Product Development: Complete Guide

What is new product development?

Why should your brand take product development, what is the role of market research in product development, how to develop new customer-based products.

Product development is about creating and improving products by implementing new ideas, technologies, and processes to  meet market needs and enhance the consumer experience . This process is carried out in different stages, including research, design, prototyping, testing and launch.

New product development aims to  create unique, innovative, cost-effective, and attractive items for the target market . To do this, it’s important to conduct market research for new product development to gain insights into the preferences and needs of your consumers. Read on to find out where to start!

Product development is the process of researching, designing, creating, and launching a new or improved product.  This process may include different stages , such as identifying market opportunities, generating ideas for new products, evaluating technical and economic feasibility, designing and prototyping, testing, and marketing and communicating the final product.

For successful new product design and development, you need to listen to the voice of the consumer, so you need to conduct research. To do this, you have specific research tools for each of the phases of new product development, such as the  idea screening  test. This process allows you to evaluate new product ideas and  select the ones that meet the expectations of your target audience , ensuring that your marketing objectives are met.

With the idea screening test, you can  know the potential of a product or service and its possible optimizations before launching it . Its benefits include: identifying the ideas most likely to succeed, confirming that they meet a need, determining whether they are considered different and relevant to what already exists, verifying or defining the core target, and validating that they fit with your brand and its values.

After the idea screening test, you can conduct a  concept test  to find out the degree of acceptance of the winning idea already developed among the target audience. In this way, you will be able to  adapt the product to the consumer’s preferences , thus allowing you to define a successful launch and minimize risks.

After the concept test, you have other tests to optimize the different product features based on consumer preferences, such as the  naming test , the  claims test , the  packaging test , and the  price test . You can also perform a  Conjoint Analysis  to identify the features most valued by consumers, determining which combination is likely to be the most popular with buyers. This type of study is effective for both new launches and existing products.

Listening to the consumer’s voice at every stage of the new product development process is essential for you to  create relevant offerings tailored to the preferences of your target audience .

Market research allows you to gain insights into consumer needs and preferences and gives you  a competitive advantage  by giving you access to the  drivers and barriers  that condition the purchase of a product. Give voice to the consumer and ensure the success of your new launch!

You must  include research in the development process to develop new customer-centric products  that will allow you to understand consumer preferences and tailor the product to your target. This way, you can  create products that generate revenue and improve your market share .

Through idea testing, you can validate your new ideas and discover which of them best fits consumer preferences. With the Zinklar platform, you also have  templates  with which to  design the study you need to ensure a successful product launch . Don’t wait any longer, and surprise your consumer!

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Why Market Research is Important For Product Development Before Launching a New Product

•   3D Modeling , 3D Rendering , Product Design
•   last updated Dec 19, 2022

Today’s post will discuss why market research is important for product development before launching a new product at companies. No product design will ever come to life without market research. Market research is critical in product development and is among the most pivotal success factors when developing a new product.  Many organizations today depend on developing new products to stay competitive and ahead of their industry.

While it is often lengthy and somewhat challenging, new products allow organizations to grow and expand their market reach. Since many products never even make it to the store shelves, market research has become more imperative than ever. Organizations need to make informed decisions based on customer insights and actual market opportunities to ensure that the cost and time invested in developing a new product don’t go down the drain. 

RELATED: How much does it cost to produce a product? Bringing your invention to market

With the help of market research, project teams can obtain pertinent insights that will guide every step of the product design and development process. Before hiring an experienced product and concept design expert to help design and develop your product, you must do your homework first. This blog post will discuss what market research is all about, why you need to do it, the different types of market research, common methods, and how to conduct your research. 

What is market research?

Market research for product development can focus on several areas. You can research market viability, the features your target users are looking for, the demand for the product you are considering, and the best way to communicate, market, position, and price your product to your target group. You have to consider your competitors, key trends, and market developments. Market research for developing new products is about pinpointing opportunities and determining whether they will bring your new product idea to life. If it is worth doing so, you also need to identify how to do it in the best possible way.

RELATED:   Three product marketing tips for inventors

There is more to market research than just knowing what your competition is doing and whether or not your target market will be willing to spend their money on you. You might also learn about market trends to discover how to market your product. Market research can also come in handy in fine-tuning your product development and its relevant elements. Depending on how your target market is developing, know the type of message and price that will capture their attention.

You also need to know the marketing tactics that will work and the channels that will likely dominate your market.  Consumer research also involves understanding every aspect of your market. You can think of this as being similar to a big puzzle. After every piece is put in place, you can present your solid research or plan to your team and investors so they can better understand why it is worth working on your product development idea. 

RELATED: Figuring out the financials: will your invention be profitable?

Why conduct market research for product development?

Market research for a new product development strategy can help reduce risks and prepare you to launch your product successfully. You will become familiar with your audience and market in such a way that will help you develop a flawless product concept. At the same time, you will also discover the best approach to marketing and messaging about it, which will resonate with your target audience. The market research process ensures that your decisions will be based only on facts and not just hunches and ideas, even if you excel in guessing games.

Before you spend any money and time on a 3D product modeling company for your product idea, it is essential to know the possibility of it being successful. It will also help you plan how much money and time you will need. Stakeholders and investors are also interested in seeing market research if you are introducing a new product idea. These people want some sense of security in knowing that the product will sell in the first place. While market research is not a crystal ball or a deck of tarot cards that can predict the future, once done right, it will give you a much clearer picture of how the market will welcome your new product concept. 

RELATED: 5 Fascinating things inventors need to know: taking products to the market

Importance of market research for product development

Market research is essential to verify if your idea for a new product will be worth the effort and work; you can also use it to optimize existing products by monitoring how your competitors change their products. You can also check online reviews on similar products and learn what specific features customers ask for. This is also considered a form of market research. It is also applicable if you want to add new products to an existing line to complement the current products or if you wish to embark on an entirely new adventure with your revolutionary product idea. 

Market research for developing a product, whether existing or new, focuses on listening to everything in the market. Be sure to step outside your organization, look for people who will spend their money on your products, and ask them if there is something you can do to make them happier. You can also try to identify the trends you can jump onto right now and become a leader in the near future. The product development process isn’t something you should only conduct in-house with your on-site developers. An experienced 3D product rendering company can assist you in designing and developing an innovative product that consumers will love.

RELATED: 6 Reasons to choose a niche market for your new product idea

When this happens, it is easy to get tunnel vision and develop a product that focuses more on what you want and can deliver and less on what your customers want. When done right, market research can force you to step outside the confines of that bubble of just looking at how you can make your product faster, stronger, and shinier. At the same time, it also helps you determine how to find your product in a good place in the market. 

The product development process is also about coming up with a sales and marketing strategy; it is also about having a positive customer experience with your product. An accomplished 3D printing design studio can help you produce the perfect 3D model for your product. The only thing you need to do here is to go and talk to your customers. Market research will also help you identify what the marketing mix must look like because, once again, new product development is never about the product alone. 

RELATED:  10 Tips for good product design

Top Reasons to Conduct Market Research for a New Product

There are many good reasons why market research is imperative for new products, including the following:

1. Gather important information before investing

Whether you are a first-time inventor or not, developing a new product is costly. Market research is crucial if measures, a game plan, and a budget are established to guarantee ROI or return on investment.

Market research typically involves answering several questions, including the following:

• How long will it take to retrieve the invested money in the project?
• How many products will likely be sold every year?
• How much is the price of the product compared to that of competitors?
• How much are the anticipated profit margin and total cost?
• How much will customers pay for the product?
• How much is the project’s total cost, including the 3D product design services and development processes?

RELATED: How to succeed as an inventor: what does an inventor do?

2. Increase awareness of your competitors

Competition doesn’t only serve as the basis for customer protection because it is also a motivation to progress. There are three kinds of competitors that your invention will face. The first kind is direct competitors, who sell the exact product you offer to consumers. The second kind is indirect competitors, which don’t sell the same product but still compete alongside your market offering.

An excellent example is an indirect competition between gym equipment and a wellness clinic. The last one is an emerging competitor, and these competitors often show up sometime in the future. Continuing with the gym example, a wearable piece of fitness technology or a virtual gym can become an emerging competitor. When clients start to use the new technology, it eliminates the need for them to go to the gym or work with a personal trainer. 

RELATED: The 10 most important design firm questions

3. Get to know your customers

Good inventors and innovators respond to the wants and needs of customers. For example, a clever inventor would research what customers wanted on their vehicles if mag wheels were not yet invented or sold. They could only proceed to source or create the product after getting this information, tailoring it to what their potential customers or market want rather than what they want. If research shows customers prefer titanium mag wheels with aluminum alloy, this should be precisely what the customer gets to guarantee an outstanding client experience and a responsive market. 

4. Become familiar with market trends

Market trends can refer to a style, pattern, or leaning toward the choice or preference of customers. These are analyzed using three-time frames. The secular trend relates to market activity over the long term, typically five to 25 years. These trends are usually in the technology sector, such as the phone industry. Primary directions are medium-term, lasting one year or more. Good examples of these are trends in fashion and during the holiday seasons. Finally, short-term trends only last for a few weeks or months and often entail social media trends and current events. Being familiar with these trends and identifying how long trends last is vital for developing an appropriate product and launching it within a suitable timeframe. 

RELATED: Low-cost product marketing strategies that work

Different types of market research

At this point, you know why market research is essential before launching a new product design. But what types of market research can you use? Product makers and inventors often lose themselves in the plethora of tools available that give them data. But what type of data is available? Is it relevant to you in any way? Knowing and understanding where information comes from and whether it is complete is imperative. How will you supplement it with more research to get the complete picture? The following are the different types of market research you can and should combine and make them work to your advantage. 

1. Primary market research

Primary market research involves collecting raw data directly from your target market or customers. You can use data that you order from activities such as focus groups and surveys without using any third-party’s trend reports. This is critical for your product development research since you cannot base your strategy and decisions solely on other people’s findings for different target groups and products. Anything you collect directly from your market is considered primary data, whether from product research, interviews, surveys, or focus groups.

RELATED: From idea to reality: turning your invention into a product

2. Qualitative market research

To give context to numbers, you need qualitative research . Product X has already captured the attention of 500 people, but what’s the real reason behind this? What product were they using before, and what motivated them to switch? Is it because the price changed? Was it because of something shown in the news? Could it have been the result of recommendations from friends? It is almost impossible to collect qualitative data for all quantitative data measured, so it is best to get this qualitative data from the hyper-relevant area of your target group.

It wouldn’t help to send surveys to a particular section of your target audience to gather quantitative data only to ask for an explanation of these numbers from another group. Qualitative data usually comes from focus groups, which you can draw from the people you survey. You can also interview existing customers that fit into the profile you are studying, as it will help you envision a real-life image of consumers’ problems and needs. The ideal person to ask is someone who fits your perfect buyer’s persona.

RELATED: 6 Questions you should ask yourself about your invention

Why is qualitative market research crucial for the product development process? It helps you get a better understanding of your target market’s needs. You conduct research that steers the generation of your product idea in the right direction, guided by direct consumer feedback and insights. Of course, you can’t approach your target consumers during the initial phases of the process and ask them to design a product on your behalf. You will acquire the essential information you need through online surveys and quantitative methods to ask your focus group more specific questions. 

3. Quantitative market research

Don’t fall for “quality over quantity” at this stage. If your goal is to make money, quantity matters, and it matters a lot. Quantitative research focuses on things that can be measured. How many people have shown interest in your product? How much are they willing to spend on your product on average? Are the numbers growing steadily, or would customers rather pay less? If it is the latter, is the group still increasing in size? It is also possible to gather information based on how satisfied people are with a product. However, this type of information doesn’t convey a motive, which is why you still need qualitative research. 

RELATED: The product development process explained in 3 stages

4. Secondary market research

You can use existing data when conducting the secondary research. Just because the information isn’t brand new doesn’t mean it lacks valuable insights. You must gather specific data related to your product and connect it to your new design. You can also conduct secondary research to determine business risks, for example, by checking market developments. One valuable form of secondary research is competitor research. Competitor research gives you an accurate understanding of the options available to your potential customers. This is always a great starting point for any strategy for new product development. 

Common research methods for product development

Primary and secondary are the basic classifications of market research. Primary or field research is where you directly acquire the data you need in the “field.” Meanwhile, secondary or desk research involves looking for existing data you can apply to your current project. Based on your budget and the type of data you are hunting for, you can choose several different techniques when hiring a 3D photorealistic expert to design your new product. The following are five of the most frequently used research methods relating to product development: 

Field trials and experiments

Field trials and experiments involve scientific testing where it is possible to prove specific hypotheses and variables. This form of research is always naturally quantitative.

RELATED: How product design companies help entrepreneurs succeed with new inventions

Focus groups

A moderator uses a scripted series of questions to lead a discussion among a group of people. The session often lasts one to two hours and requires a minimum of three groups to achieve balanced results. 

Observation

This technique draws a more precise image of customers’ shopping patterns and usage habits while you observe them in action by videotaping them in shops, at home, or at work. This can help you reach conclusions about the way they use a product. This method’s main advantage is measuring actual behavior rather than user-reported behavior alone.

Actual behavior is more reliable because users often report differently on surveys from their real-life behavior. Approaches include eye tracking using heat maps, usability testing using a prototype device, and contextual inquiry by talking to users while working in their natural environments to identify pain points. 

RELATED: Your product packaging design can make your brand into an icon

Personal interviews

A personal interview includes open-ended, unstructured questions. These interviews are recorded and often last for about one hour. This method can yield valuable insights into users’ attitudes, unraveling their pain points and understanding psychological motivations simultaneously. It is an excellent tool when it comes to new product development. Possible downsides are that results are subjective and often not statistically reliable because they don’t represent a substantial chunk of the population. 

You can conduct surveys in person, online, via phone, or by email with straightforward and concise questionnaires. The larger your sample, the more reliable your results will be. What makes surveys different from focus groups lies in the information you hope to get from them. For example, a satisfaction survey may reveal that one part of the product is a tremendous matter. Meanwhile, the focus group will delve deeper to discover the underlying problem with the part. 

RELATED: 101 Inventions that changed the world in the last 100 years

How to Conduct Market Research for New Product Design

You can never skip several aspects of market research if your main goal is to use your results for your product development strategy.

First step: begin with exploratory research 

Exploratory research is about identifying what you want to research. It is normal not to know immediately what your goal for the research is or how you will achieve it; this is where exploratory research enters the picture. The process starts with gathering secondary data on different types or aspects of your design. Identify stand-out stuff, developments you haven’t considered before, and things you wish to learn more about. Using this information, you can define what you find most relevant for you at this point. Identify your knowledge gaps and check how you will ensure you get all the relevant data you need to make sensible business decisions. It is not necessarily about acquiring all the information you can; you must keep it relevant and manageable. Determine the questions you cannot answer immediately and make them the main focus of your exploratory research. 

RELATED: Should you get a patent for your invention?

Second step: define the objectives of your research 

Once you have finished your exploratory research, it is time to pinpoint what you truly need to know to proceed with the product development process. Do you want to focus on customer needs? How will you get an edge over your competition? Will your market analysis concentrate on pricing and market demand? Is there a lot of ground to cover in usage habits and the physical product? It would be best if you had a clearer picture of what you will be researching in the first place. Ask yourself which actionable insights you need to rise in this market segment. Your objectives must be as concrete as possible so your answers are focused enough for you to use with confidence as the basis for your next step.

Third step: determine the scope of your research

Market research is, as expected, a means of cutting back on risk. However, launching a new product always involves risk, and there is no 100 percent assurance of what may happen until your product officially hits the market. This is why defining a scope around your research objectives is essential, and it will also help identify where you need your primary and secondary data. 

RELATED: How to design for a fantastic user experience

Fourth step: choose your partners or tools for market research

Will you focus on business as usual or the new product while a research agency does all the legwork? Or would you rather keep the entire process in-house? If the latter, it will be your responsibility to decide on the tools you will use for your market research. At this point, you will have almost endless possibilities. There is a tool for each stage of research. However, it is essential to use means you can efficiently work with and gather all the data you need so you don’t have to glue everything together from several sources. Pick a pleasant and easy tool for you and your consumers, especially if you will talk to them directly. 

Fifth step: proceed with concept testing

While the market is interesting, this research is still about developing your product idea. Is your design good enough to be launched in the market, or will you still need additional input to polish it? This is the time to bring in concept testing. Concept testing allows you to develop an MVP for your focus groups. You get to learn about their thoughts. What features do they love and miss? How much are they willing to pay for the product? Is the product easy to use? Once again, remember that you are not only developing a new product here. At the same time, you are also developing communication and marketing around it that requires thorough testing. 

RELATED: Validating your idea: is there a market for your product?

How can Cad Crowd help?

Cad Crowd offers CAD design and product development services for entrepreneurs throughout the product design cycle. From  patenting  to  3D modeling design  to  manufacturing and 3D printing , we’ll connect you with the services you need to bring your invention from idea to product.  Get a free estimate today .

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Home • Knowledge hub • How to write a market research report for a new product launch

How to write a market research report for a new product launch

When launching a new product to market, it’s imperative to be prepared with relevant information. You need a deep understanding of your market, how your products will benefit that market, the potential challenges you might run into, and much more.

This is why it’s so important to write an in-depth, professional, and relevant market research report. Not only to gather and display all the right information but also so that you can share that information clearly and easily with people within and outside your organization. This is important for a wide range of different reasons.

In this article, we’ll look at why market research reports for product launches are so important and show you how to do it as effectively as possible.

Why market research reports are important

Conducting a detailed and relevant market research report before you launch your new product is a good idea for all kinds of reasons. Here are some of the main ones:

• Get buy-in from senior decision-makers . When launching any product, you’ll always want the full support of the top decision-makers at your organization. This can be a tricky thing to acquire, especially if your team is relatively unproven. A detailed and informative market research report can be the deciding factor in winning their support, convincing them that your product is well-placed to succeed, and making it much easier to achieve your goals.
• Learn more about your customers and target audience . One of the main reasons to conduct market research is to understand your prospective customers in more detail. The work you do to compile a report will give you a clear and detailed understanding of what your customers want, what they already like, where they conduct their own research, and much more. This will arm you with the insights and knowledge you need to launch your product confidently and successfully.

Discover ideas for new products and how to improve existing ones . When you research your target market, you’ll likely stumble upon inspiration for new products in addition to the one you’re planning to launch. The feedback you get from your research will also be laced with ideas for improving and tweaking existing products

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How to write a market research report effectively

In the rest of this guide, we’ll show you what you need to do to ensure your market research report is as detailed, relevant, and valuable as it possibly can be. Let’s start with the type of information you need to include.

What you need to include:

Buyer personas.

This is a crucial part of getting to know your customers and the different groups they fall into. You should start by researching your target market members as much as possible through a range of channels — interviews, social media research, email surveys, and more. Then, divide them into demographics and create a detailed persona to represent each one.

This is an incredibly valuable step because it allows you to break down your market and make broad predictions about each group’s preferences, pain points, habits, and desires. If done right, this helps you target your future marketing much more accurately and effectively.

Understand your competitors

Getting to know your competitors is a key element of market research. It allows you to understand what you will be up against when launching your product and what segments of your market might be easier or more difficult to sway from their loyalty to your competitors.

Your research report should contain detailed information about each of your competitors and what they offer. What do their products lack that yours can provide? Why do your customers go to them? How dominant are they in your market? What kind of loyalty do they command? What are some of the keys to their success? All this will help you understand what you’re up against and strengthen your chances of success.

Who did you talk to?

Much of your market research will involve talking to various people and groups of people in situations like focus groups, interviews, and surveys. It’s important to document this side of your research carefully and include it in your market research report. Be sure to break down the people you spoke to into demographics and be as specific as possible — try to align this with your buyer personas.

This will help you understand what different demographics want, identify any areas you may have missed, and see any opportunities for segmentation or expansion, as well as providing clear visibility into your research process and allowing you to justify your findings and decisions to other company members carefully.

Clearly show what will happen next — how will you use your findings? 

When you present your market research report to decision-makers in your organization, their primary concern will be what you want to do with it. Research is only valuable if it has a practical application, which should be a key element of your report.

It’s best to be specific — create plans and roadmaps for campaigns, build strategies, and include timelines and carefully researched cost estimates. If you can present a clear and viable plan for your product launch, it will be much easier to gain the support and buy-in of the higher-ups in your company. Be ready to defend and justify these plans.

Primary vs Secondary Market Research

There are two main types of research you’ll need to do when preparing your market research report: primary and secondary. Here is the difference:

• Primary research . This refers to the first-hand information you have gathered during your research — straight from the primary source. Examples include interviews with individuals, focus groups, surveys, and information from sales teams. It helps add a human touch to your research, incorporating real people’s distinct voices and opinions.
• Secondary research. This is data that your company didn’t personally collect but is available in the form of things like public records, trend reports, and market statistics. While it lacks the specific human element of primary research, it’s a great way to gain valuable overall insights about your target market without having to conduct huge research projects yourself.

Convincing company decision-makers with your market research report

One of the most essential functions of a market research report is to convince your company’s key stakeholders that you are prepared for a product launch and have everything in place to begin the process successfully.

When creating your report, you should always have this goal in mind. Here are some ways to do that:

• Always clearly tie your research for business outcomes. For every conclusion your report reaches, explain what this means for the business and what concrete actions you will take as a result.
• Use as many stats and as much hard data as possible. Clearly express this data in the form of graphs and other visual aids. Show where your data came from, how you collected it, and how your findings will impact your product launch.
• Consider using Porter’s 5 Forces Model . This business model is aimed at understanding and explaining the fundamental market forces at work in any given industry. It can be illuminating to tie your research into this model.

A well-researched and detailed market research report is an essential part of a successful product launch strategy. It allows you to clearly understand your market, formulate concrete plans and strategies, and gain the support of your organization’s decision-makers.

Without one, you’ll be plunged into the dark, facing the monumentally challenging task of launching a product without the support of extensive research and data. To find out more about how Kadence can help you prepare a market research report and launch your product with confidence, contact us .

Helping brands uncover valuable insights

We’ve been working with Kadence on a couple of strategic projects, which influenced our product roadmap roll-out within the region. Their work has been exceptional in providing me the insights that I need. Senior Marketing Executive Arla Foods

Kadence’s reports give us the insight, conclusion and recommended execution needed to give us a different perspective, which provided us with an opportunity to relook at our go to market strategy in a different direction which we are now reaping the benefits from. Sales & Marketing Bridgestone

Kadence helped us not only conduct a thorough and insightful piece of research, its interpretation of the data provided many useful and unexpected good-news stories that we were able to use in our communications and interactions with government bodies. General Manager PR -Internal Communications & Government Affairs Mitsubishi

Kadence team is more like a partner to us. We have run a number of projects together and … the pro-activeness, out of the box thinking and delivering in spite of tight deadlines are some of the key reasons we always reach out to them. Vital Strategies

Kadence were an excellent partner on this project; they took time to really understand our business challenges, and developed a research approach that would tackle the exam question from all directions.  The impact of the work is still being felt now, several years later. Customer Intelligence Director Wall Street Journal

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Product Launch Checklist: How to Launch a Product, According to HubSpot's Experts

Published: November 02, 2023

Like a tree falling in the woods, if you plan a product launch without spreading the word — will anyone use it? Will anyone even want it?

Probably not. Whether you‘re launching something huge, something small, or you’re updating a current offering, you'll want to start your preparation well in advance of the launch date with a product launch checklist.

Because there are so many moving parts in this process, bringing your product to market can be intimidating and tricky. To help you, we've come up with a step-by-step checklist for a successful product launch and gathered the best product launch tips from a HubSpot Product Marketer.

What is a product launch?

A product launch is the process of introducing a brand new product or service to the world. It involves various marketing and promotional activities aimed at creating buzz and demand around your new offering. The ultimate goal is to get customers excited and eager to buy the new product.

Product launches require a lot of planning. You can’t just drop a new product out of the blue and expect everyone to buy in — well, unless you’re Beyoncé . Luckily, our product launch checklist can help ensure that all your t’s are crossed and i’s are dotted before your official launch date.

Free Product Go-to-Market Kit

Free templates to ensure that your whole team is aligned for your next product launch.

• Product Launch Template
• Product Roadmap Template
• Sales Plan Template

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Click this link to access this resource at any time.

Product Launch Checklist

• Learn about your customer.
• Write a positioning statement.
• Pitch your positioning to stakeholders.
• Develop product branding.
• Plan your go-to-market strategy.
• Set a goal for the launch.
• Create promotional content.
• Test and gather feedback.
• Set up distribution channels.
• Prepare your team.
• Launch the product.
• See how well you did in achieving your goals.

1. Learn about your customer.

Whether you call it “market research,” or “customer development” it's key to learn about what drives your customer. Identifying their goals, motivations, and pain points could lead you to developing and marketing a valuable solution.

You don't need to perform years of intense research to learn about your customer. In fact, we suggest just talking to 12 to 15 current or prospective customers.

When speaking to them, pay extra attention when they start sentences with “I wish a product did this function…” or “Why can‘t products do this?” When they give these statements, respond with questions that go deeper, like “Can you get more specific about that?" If they don’t bring up any pain points, ask them a few specific questions that will encourage them to give deeper answers.

These conversations will give you a solid idea of what their biggest pain points are and how you can market a solution to them. Once you learn these key details about your customers, you can develop a buyer persona that your team can focus on serving.

2. Write a positioning statement.

When launching a new product, you must be able to clearly explain how it fills a need in the market. That’s where a positioning statement comes in. It helps you communicate the unique value proposition and key benefits that differentiate your product from others.

Write out a statement that can clearly and concisely answer these three questions:

• Who is the product for?
• What does the product do?
• Why is it different from other products out there?

If you'd like to go even deeper, create a statement that answers the following questions:

• What is your target audience?
• What segment of the target audience is most likely to buy the product?
• What brand name will you give your product or service?
• What product or service category does your product lie in?
• How is it different from competitors in the same category?
• What evidence or proof do you have to prove that your product is different?

Still need more guidance on how to write a positioning statement? Check out this template.

3. Pitch your positioning to stakeholders.

Once you've established your positioning statement, present it to stakeholders in your company so they are all on the same page.

When doing this, you’ll want to emphasize how your new product aligns with your overall business strategy, customer needs, market trends, and revenue potential. Use concrete examples, stories, or data to make your pitch more persuasive.

You’ll also want to think proactively about potential questions or objections they might have. Prepare thoughtful responses to address concerns around market viability, competition, target audience, or feasibility.

If your employees have a hard time buying into the product, your customers might as well. If your team loves it, that might be a great sign that the product launch will go well.

4. Develop product branding.

Take the information you gathered while conducting your market research and writing your positioning statement and let it inspire you as you craft your product brand identity .

During this step, you’ll develop all the elements needed to create a consistent and memorable brand, including:

• Product name, logo, and tagline
• Color palette, typography, and imagery
• Key brand, communications, and marketing guidelines

Product branding is a little different than company branding because it focuses on creating a distinct identity for a specific product, rather than an entire organization. However, they are both still interconnected and should be aligned.

5. Plan your go-to-market strategy.

This is the strategy that you will use to launch and promote your product. While some businesses prefer to build a funnel strategy, others prefer the flywheel approach.

Regardless of which method you choose, this process contains many moving parts. To create an organized strategy for launching your product, it can be helpful to use a template, like this one.

As you create the strategy, also start considering which type of content you‘ll use to attract a prospective customer’s attention during the awareness, consideration, and purchase decision stage . You'll need to produce this content in the next step.

6. Set a goal for the launch.

Before you get started on implementing your strategy, make sure you write down your goals for the launch.

Alex Girard, a Product Marketing Manager at HubSpot, says, “Create specific goals for the launch's success. Keeping these goals in mind will help you focus your efforts on launch tactics that will help you achieve those goals.”

For example, the goals of your product launch could be to effectively establish a new product name, build awareness, or create sales opportunities.

One of the best ways to set goals for your launch team is to write them out like SMART goals . A SMART goal is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

Once you have your goals in mind, you can start thinking about what KPIs you want to track, such as:

• Sales revenue
• Customer acquisition
• Conversion rate
• Website traffic and engagement
• Social media engagement

Identifying these metrics ahead of time will make it easier to assess whether or not you met your goals after the product is launched.

7. Create promotional content.

After planning out your go-to-market strategy and writing your SMART goals, start producing content that will support and align with those promotional efforts.

This can include:

• Blog posts related to your product or industry
• Demos and tutorials
• Email campaigns
• Social media posts
• Landing pages

Our go-to-market template will also help you determine which content you should create for each phase of your prospective customer‘s buyer’s journey.

8. Test and gather feedback.

Before you officially launch your new product, it’s important to test it out to ensure your final product is the best it can be.

By testing the product in different scenarios with real users, potential bugs, usability problems, or functional issues can be discovered and resolved early on. Fixing these problems before launching your product ensures a smoother user experience and helps maintain customer satisfaction.

Gathering feedback from users also allows for product improvement. By listening to the opinions, suggestions, and criticisms of users, you can gain insight into what features are working well and which ones need improvement. This feedback-driven approach can help you make informed decisions on enhancing the product's functionality, usability, and performance.

9. Set up distribution channels.

Before you officially launch, you’ll need to set up your distribution channels. This step is important because it determines how and where customers can purchase your product, be it online platforms, brick-and-mortar stores, or other distribution partners.

Well-planned distribution channels help accelerate the product's time to market. By proactively setting up channels ahead of the launch, you can quickly distribute the product once it becomes available, minimizing delays and maximizing opportunities to capture early adopters and gain market share.

If you can successfully position your product in prominent retail locations or online marketplaces, it increases visibility and boosts your chances of capturing customer attention and outperforming competitors.

It also provides a foundation for future growth and scalability. As your business expands and introduces new products, you can leverage existing channel relationships and infrastructure to efficiently launch and distribute new offerings.

10. Prepare your team.

Be sure that your company and key stakeholders are ready for you to launch and begin marketing the product.

Before the big launch day, consider doing the following:

• Offer your team early access to the product so they can familiarize themselves with it firsthand.
• Provide training sessions to help your team understand the product inside out.
• Develop sales enablement materials such as presentations, product sheets, FAQs, and objection handling guides.
• Conduct role-playing exercises to simulate real customer scenarios with the product.

During this process, it’s essential that all stakeholders are on the same page. Communicate with the company through internal presentations, Slack, or email to keep your company updated on your launch plan.

11. Launch the product.

Once you've completed all the above steps, you can launch the product. Here are some last-minute things to check over on launch day:

• Double-check all the necessary details, materials, and arrangements to ensure that everything is ready and working correctly.
• Conduct a brief team meeting to align everyone and address any last-minute questions or concerns.
• Keep an eye on social media channels to gauge customer reactions, respond to inquiries, and engage with potential customers.
• Ensure that your website and any systems related to the product launch, such as landing pages or checkout processes, are functioning smoothly.

Most importantly, you should take the time to celebrate the launch and the efforts of your team. This can be in the form of a team lunch, virtual celebration, or any other creative way to acknowledge everyone’s hard work.

12. See how well you did in achieving your goals.

After you launch your product, track how the go-to-market strategy is performing. Be prepared to pivot or adjust aspects of your plan if they aren't going smoothly.

Additionally, don't forget about the goals you set before the launch. Take the time to review the KPI targets you set ahead of the launch and assess how well you did in achieving those goals.

For instance, did you exceed your sales projections, or did you fall short? If the launch didn't meet expectations, you can rethink your go-to-market strategy and adjust from there.

How much money do you need to launch a new product?

Launching a product can cost anywhere from $10,000 to over $10 million — but for most cases, the range is somewhere between $20,000 to $500,000. However, the cost of launching a new product varies significantly depending on the type of product, industry, competition, and the goals you're hoping to achieve.

The cost of launching a new product varies significantly. For instance, an entrepreneur will see vastly different costs for launching a product on Amazon than an enterprise company might see for launching a product in a million-dollar market.

Let's consider two examples to explore this more closely.

Entrepreneur Product Launch Example

In the first example, let‘s say you’re an entrepreneur who has invented a design app you're hoping to sell online. You might conduct market research to determine which marketing strategies work best for your goals, which messaging resonates best with your audience, and which design elements appeal to your desired prospects. If you use a few focus groups to determine these answers, you might expect to spend roughly $5,000.

When you‘re bringing a new app to the market, you’ll need to choose the best go-to marketing strategy for your needs. Regardless of the strategy you choose, they all cost money. For instance, product branding could cost roughly $1,000 if you‘re paying a designer to help you out, and website design could cost anywhere from $500-$3,000 if you’re paying a web designer a one-off fee.

These fees don‘t include the cost you need to pay yourself and any employees if this is a full-time job. It also doesn’t include the costs of hiring an engineer to update the app's features and ensure the app is running smoothly.

With this simplified example, you're looking at roughly $8,000. Of course, you can cut some costs if you choose to do any of these tasks yourself, but you might risk creating a subpar customer experience.

Enterprise Product Launch Example

On the other end of the spectrum, let‘s consider a large enterprise company that is launching a new product. Here, you’ll likely pay upwards of $30,000 - $50,000 for market research.

Perhaps you'll spend $15,000 on brand positioning and the marketing materials necessary to differentiate yourself against competitors, and you might pay upwards of $30,000 for all the product design and brand packaging. Finally, your marketing team could need a budget of roughly $20,000 for SEO, paid advertising, social, content creation, etc.

All said and done, launching a product against other enterprise competitors‘ could cost roughly $125,000. Again, that doesn’t include the costs you'll pay your marketing, product development, and engineering teams.

How to Launch a Product Online

To launch your product online, you‘ll want to ensure you’ve followed the steps above. However, there are a few additional steps you'll want to follow to gain traction primarily online.

1. Figure out the story you want to tell regarding your product's bigger purpose.

What story do you want to tell across social platforms, landing pages, and email? This is similar to your positioning statement but needs to be geared entirely toward your target audience. Ask questions like, Why should they purchase your product? And How will your product or service make their lives better?

Communicating cross-functionally ensures the communication materials you use across various online channels align — which is key when it comes to establishing a new product in the marketplace.

Consider, for instance, how Living Proof announced its new product, Advanced Clean Dry Shampoo, on its Instagram page. The story revolves around a simple nuisance common with most other dry shampoos — How consumers still want that just-washed feeling, even when using a dry shampoo.

Originating in 2011 as a website called donothingfor2minutes.com, Calm is a mobile app that provides various resources and tools for meditation, sleep, relaxation, and mindfulness. Although Headspace was the leading meditation app at the time of its launch, it didn’t take long for Calm to dominate the market.

Calm found success largely because of its content marketing and SEO strategy. According to Foundation’s research , Calm has attracted over 8 million backlinks and uses blog content and YouTube content to organically attract and engage prospects.

The company also partners with celebrities to create unique content and engaging ad campaigns. Some of Calm’s most famous collaborators include Lebron James, Harry Styles, Matthew McConaughey, and Camila Cabello.

Calm’s celebrity partnerships have given them a leg up compared to their competitors. Not only their celebrity-read Sleep Stories garner millions of views, but they also boost the brand’s visibility and authority.

Poppi is a “prebiotic soda,” which is a beverage that combines the fizziness and taste of a traditional soda with fruit juice, prebiotics, and apple cider vinegar. It comes in flavors such as Classic Cola, Root Beer, Orange, and Cherry Limeade.

Originally called “Mother Beverage,” Poppi was originally created when co-founder Allison Ellsworth wanted to create a drink that was both healthy and tasted good. Not only does Poppi stand out from other beverages because of its health benefits, it also has a unique and colorful brand personality that attracts customers.

According to Allison, “We had this really fun and vibrant brand and a product that people could relate to. People love it and it was created with ingredients that people knew to be effective and beneficial to their body.”

Poppi was originally slated for a retail launch in March of 2020. However, those plans changed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Fortunately, they were able to pivot to launch as a DTC product, selling on Amazon and other e-commerce platforms. Additionally, they used this opportunity to invest in social media marketing on Instagram and TikTok , where they gained popularity amongst Gen Z consumers.

3. HubSpot Operations Hub

In 2021, HubSpot launched Operations Hub as part of its CRM platform. The product is designed to help businesses streamline their operational processes, improve data quality and accuracy, and enable cross-team collaboration. This allows businesses to run more smoothly and scale more effectively.

One of the reasons why this launch was successful was because it solved a problem that many customers faced.

According to HubSpot’s research , “over 60% of operations professionals have to do duplicative work because of a lack of alignment between teams.” This happens because operations professionals get hired into separate departments and get siloed and overwhelmed with tasks as their companies scale.

In response, HubSpot introduced Operations Hub so operations employees could work together out of a shared system and remove friction from their day-to-day workflows.

Goodles is a noodle brand that takes boxed mac-and-cheese to the next level. This product differentiates itself by providing more nutritional value than the standard dry noodles, with 10g of protein and 7g of fiber with prebiotics in every serving.

“The pasta aisle is overflowing with golden, al dente pasta options that provide very little nutrition. There's also an 'alt-pasta' section with green, brown, orange, mushy, foamy noodles that offer more nutrition but little 'yum',” co-founder and CEO Jen Zeszut said in a press release . “Why should you have to choose between taste and nutrition?”

Aside from its positioning as a delicious and nutritious alternative to boxed mac-and-cheese, Goodles also stands out with its vibrant and fun branding. While other noodle brands have neutral-colored packaging, Goodles uses a bold color palette, a nostalgic typeface, and cheeky product names, like Shella Good and Here Comes Truffle, to attract consumers in the grocery aisle.

Product Launch Tips

To learn the best practices for a successful product launch, I talked to Alex Girard again.

The HubSpot Product Marketing Manager said he had three main tips for a successful product launch:

• Your product positioning should reflect a shift you're seeing in the world, and how your product helps your customers take advantage of that shift.
• Create a recurring schedule for you and the core stakeholders for the launch to check in and ensure you're all on the same page.
• Make sure you keep the product team in the loop on your marketing plans. The product team could have insights that inform your overall marketing campaign.

However, sometimes, external factors might impact your ability to launch a product. When that happens, you might need to delay your launch.

How to Know When to Delay a Product Launch

To understand when, and why, you might hold off on a product launch, Girard told me there are three key reasons why you might want to delay a product launch, including:

• When your product itself isn't ready and you need to change your timeline to create the best customer experience possible.
• If a situation occurs where your current customers are having a less-than-optimal experience with one of your current products. Before launching and promoting a new product, you should make sure your current customers are satisfied with your existing product offering.
• If something occurs on an international, national, state, or local level that requires your audience to readjust their priorities and shift focus away from your company and its product launch. Make sure that when the time comes to launch, your target audience is ready to learn about your new product.

If you‘re looking for templates to coordinate your team efforts and align your company around your new product’s messaging, download our free product marketing kit below.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in November 2015 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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Product Research: The Building Blocks of a User-Centered Solution

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Product research is a foundational step in building user-centric products. It allows you to understand customer needs, preferences, and market trends, informing the development of successful solutions to user problems. Read on for the ultimate guide to product research, including methods, processes, and best practices—plus our favorite tips from the industry’s leading experts.

Product research 101: Definition, methods, and best practices

You may only build new products once, but you iterate on them continuously. The ongoing evolution of a product’s user experience (UX), informed by user insights, is pivotal to staying ahead of competitors and giving your users exactly what they need. In chapter one of this guide, we’ll explore what product research is, give an overview of key methods (and when to use them), plus best practices to follow.

What is product research?

Product research is any research you conduct to better inform your product and understand your user and market. Unlike user research , product research goes beyond evaluating the user experience and includes market analysis, pricing, feature prioritization, and assessing business viability.

Product research is a broader term than UX research—you can conduct research on the user, the interaction, the market, or your business strategy.

Matthieu Dixte , Product Researcher at Maze

It helps you understand the world you are bringing your product into, and what your users expect to do with a product like yours—so you can use their insights to influence development and design decisions.

Product research can be conducted in multiple ways, such as talking directly to users in focus groups or user interviews , or through product experimentation, usability tests and competitive analysis.

Other research terms you might come across

Ultimately, all research falls under the 'product research' banner if it influences the final product. For some product teams, ‘user research’ and ‘product research’ may be interchangeable. But there are some subtle differences between various research terms that it can be helpful to know. Here are the distinctions between key terms you might hear, explained by Maze's Product Researcher, Matthieu Dixte:

• Market research: Discover who is leading the market, who your direct and indirect competitors are, and what similar products are available to your users at what price
• User research: Understand the user, including their needs, pain points, likes and dislikes, and characteristics—both as a consumer and user of your product
• User experience (UX) research : Learn how your user perceives and interacts with your product—where they click, which paths they follow, and where they search for information on-page
• Product discovery : Uncover what your users’ needs and problems are, validate ideas for potential solutions before development, and apply user insights to your product strategy
• Continuous product discovery : Adapt the mindset of an ever-evolving product and user; conduct research continuously throughout the product lifecycle and ensure all decisions are informed by user insights

For example, let’s say you’re thinking of developing and launching a note-taking app for teenagers. You’d need to conduct market research to see if there are any similar products in high demand to gauge if your tool is something customers want. In parallel, you should run user research to discover who your user persona would be and what their pain points are.

You also have to do product discovery to identify the best way to build and design your potential product to make it appealing for teens. And, if you want to know how your users will feel about your product compared to other options, you need product research .

Lastly, run UX research tests on your mobile and web app to gather feedback, and improve the experience. You should continue to talk with users regularly after launch by adopting a continuous product discovery mindset (and ensure you’re always updating and offering the right product).

Talk to more users without needing to grow your product team

Recruit and test users from Maze’s high-quality panel to get more eyes on your product, without increasing payroll.

Why is product research important?

Are we making the right assumptions? Is this product what users really need? Can they use it effectively?

Research answers all those questions. But product research goes a step further by placing those answers in the context of your niche and the market. It empowers your team—not only to create unbiased, user-centric products—but also to create best-selling products that are based on a robust business strategy and deep understanding of the market.

Product research will also help you:

Head in the right direction

Conducting types of product research like competitive analysis gives you inside information on what your users value in a similar product—and what they’re missing. It ensures you’re heading in the right direction by only working on aspects of your product you know will succeed. This helps you speed time-to-market, reduce the cost of fixing future mistakes, and achieve higher goals.

Product research allows you to “define the total addressable market and north star metric, based on the customer segments that found your idea and product valuable. We would fail at achieving product-market fit without doing customer research,” explains Prerna Kaul , Product Lead for Alexa AI at Amazon.

Make the right decisions at the right time

User data can inform your decisions and help you prioritize them according to the goals of the business. “Make choices regarding the evolution of your product and find the right balance between what you want to deliver to improve the user experience, and the benefits it’ll bring to your company,” advises Matthieu. Without product research, you’re building products in the dark with no idea whether your target audience will like or buy them—which could mean wasted resources and sinking revenue.

Get stakeholder buy-in

You’ve probably found yourself explaining multiple times to stakeholders why you need to prioritize one feature over another. Conducting product research enables you to “clearly articulate the customer value proposition to leadership, tech, and science counterparts,” says Prerna. Having quantitative and qualitative user insights provides reassurance to stakeholders and speeds up sign-off—while ensuring the wider organization is aligned on your product ideas.

In short, product research provides you evidence you need to start evangelizing research among your organization, and get the whole team on board.

Understand the position your users hold in the market

User research is about getting to know your target audience and building ideal customer profiles, but product research is about discovering where your potential customers are located in the market and which trending products to take note of. If your audience is already using a similar product, this means finding out: Which one? Why? Are they willing to switch to a different product? What would it take for you to get them to switch?

“Analyzing the market lets you determine which areas could be ripe for disruption or creation. By analyzing existing products and doing conceptual thinking you can build a picture of how you can get your product to gain traction in the market and offer something new, nuanced, or better than the current options,” says Nick Simpson , Head of UX at Airteam.

Challenge your assumptions and anticipate problems

When Prerna worked at Walmart Labs, her team introduced a feature for users to scan products in the Scan and Go app. “We initially believed that all of our inventory was available in a common database and accessible through the app. However, during research and user testing, we identified that some rare products were not in the online database,” she explains.

This caused test users to drop off the app, so her team had to take a step back and prioritize fixing inventory issues before launching the product. Without conducting product research, you can be left guessing at the cause of user problems, or wondering why they prefer a particular product. Research offers your team a chance to challenge what you think you know, and pre-empt what you don’t.

Product tip 💡

You can use Maze to conduct multiple tests on your product through development, such as Five-Second Tests or Content and Copy Testing , or get insights on your live product through Live Website Testing .

Product research methods

There are many different product research and UX research methods , all of which offer different kinds of data and insight, depending on your objectives. If you’re looking to conduct product research to better understand your users, market, or competitors, here are eight product research methods you should consider to help you build winning products.

1. Customer interviews

Interviews can take place at any take of the product development process and consist of direct conversations with current or potential customers. You may choose to conduct interviews with a market panel during concept testing and idea screening to validate your ideas, or you may want to speak to current users after the product goes live to gather post-launch feedback. Interviews are a varied and flexible product research method.

During customer interviews, you should ask open and unbiased research questions to gather insights about customer needs, preferences, and experiences regarding their pain points, your product, and competitors.

2. Voice of customer (VoC) analysis

Gauge what current and potential customers are saying about your products or competitor products online. You can do this using VoC tools , by reviewing what people post on social media, looking at Google Trends, or reading reviews on websites like G2.

You should conduct customer voice analysis continuously throughout the lifecycle as it can help you gain a competitive advantage. “Review what’s publicly published, check feature requests, and ask sales, customer success, or support teams for feedback coming from the user,” adds Matthieu.

For example, if a competitor gets acquired by a bigger firm and users start to complain about them removing a feature, you can use the opportunity to develop a similar functionality or improve the one you have. You can also make it more visible on-page and get the sales and marketing teams to use the information to advertise your product.

3. Diary studies

Diary studies involve users self-reporting behaviors, habits, and experiences over a period of time. This is often used during the discovery phase with a competitor product, or later down the line with a prototype. By observing how users feel prior to, during, and after using your (or a competitor) product—and their experience throughout—you can gather valuable, in-the-moment insights within a real life context.

You can conduct diary studies on paper, video, or online on a mobile app or a dedicated platform.

Data from diary research can turn into new product ideas, new features, or inform your current project. For instance, if you have a social media scheduling tool and you identify that users open a time zone calculator when they’re scheduling posts, you instantly have a new feature idea, to add a widget with different time zones.

Learn more about the types of diary study and how to conduct diary research here.

4. Competitive analysis

Analyze competitors' products and strategies to identify what works for them and identify any gaps in the market. The idea behind competitive product analysis is to explore your competitor’s products in-depth, sign up for an account, use them for a while, and take notes of top features, UX, and price points. You can run competitive analysis during the discovery, concept validation , or prototyping stages with direct and indirect competitors, or aspirational businesses.

Matthieu Dixte, Product Researcher at Maze, notes the value of competitive analysis is in understanding your users perspective: “We conduct a lot of competitive analysis at Maze because it's really important for us to understand if the market is mature regarding a particular topic—and to identify the current ground covered. This helps us understand the pros and cons our customers perceive when they choose between our product or another tool.”

Surveys can be a great way to get feedback or gather user sentiment relating to existing products or future concepts. You can also use them to dig deeper into the data gathered during other tests, and understand user issues and preferences in context.

For example, if you ran an A/B test and discovered that certain copy was causing potential users to churn, you could follow-up with a survey with targeted questions around their demographics, preferences, and personal views. This would help add qualitative insights to your quantitative data, and help understand what your users are looking for from your product.

Remember, you can create surveys at any stage of the product development to collect data from users in small or large volumes. You can use different types of surveys and survey principles to validate or debunk hypotheses, prioritize features, and identify your target market. For example, you could ask questions about your product, competitors, and prices or even your customer’s preferences and market trends.

Surveys can have a high drop-out rate, harming the validity of your data. Check out our survey design guide to discover the industry’s top secrets to an engaging survey which keeps users hooked.

6. Usability testing

Since conducting product research is also about understanding how well your customers navigate through your product and if they find it usable, you can run usability or prototype tests . Usability testing evaluates the usability of your product by asking test participants to complete tasks on your tool and seeing how they interact with it.

While typically conducted as a pre-launch check, usability testing is now widely understood as a building block of continuous research. Conducting regular usability tests is crucial to staying familiar with users, taking the pulse of your product, and ensuring every new product decision is informed with real data.

Conduct usability tests on a product research tool like Maze and record your participant’s audio, video, and screen with Clips . This offers you a mix of quantitative and qualitative data to learn why participants take certain actions to complete test tasks.

7. Fake door testing

The fake door testing method, also called the ‘painted door method’, is a way to validate whether your customers would be interested in a particular feature. “It works by faking a feature that is not actually available and implementing a tracker to know how many people click on it,” explains Matthieu.

When people click on the feature, they see a message explaining it’s not available at the moment. If the click-rate is high, you can assume there’s interest in the feature and conduct further research to identify how to design and develop it.

While it’s a quick way to gauge interest, fake door testing runs the risk of frustrating users, so if you’re using this method on a live product, you should be cautious and set a short testing period to avoid creating false expectations in your users.

8. Focus groups

Focus groups are when you gather a group of users to try your product and discuss their thoughts on the design, UX, usability, or price. You’ll offer them prompts or ask a series of user research questions to spark conversation, then observe and take notes.

This can be an expensive or admin-heavy method, as you need to rent a space, find participants who are willing to attend, and compensate them for their time. However, you can also conduct focus groups remotely through video conferencing tools. These groups are a good way of generating new product ideas or gaining deep insight in a short space of time, as you can hear directly from your users and adjust your questioning to follow up on important topics or opinions which participants mention.

When to perform product research

Source: 2023 Continuous Product Discovery Report

According to our 2023 Continuous Product Discovery Report , most teams conduct research at problem discovery (59%) and problem validation (57%), with only 36% researching post-launch.

The consensus is that product teams don’t think that’s enough—78% think they could research more often: which means there’s a big opportunity for you to implement regular research at all stages of the product research process .

Here’s when to conduct research on your product:

• At problem discovery stage to outline a hypothesis based on user insights
• During problem validation to prove your hypothesis
• During solution generation and concept development to see if you’re moving in the right direction
• As you’re screening different ideas for prioritization to identify the ones your users value most
• At solution definition and once you have your initial design to test early wireframes
• After developing a prototype to see assess usability and direction
• During validation and testing to review changes made to previous prototypes
• After development, and post-launch to get feedback and plan your future steps
• Before launching a new feature or doing product optimization to gauge users’ perceptions

Best practices for effective product research

If you only have time to consider one best practice for product research, we’ll keep it short. Just start.

Any research is better than none, and there’s a wealth of knowledge out there waiting to be discovered. If you don’t use it, your competitors will.

Now, here are six other best practices to help you improve your results and get the best insights possible:

1. Conduct research continuously

Your product is never done, at least not while the market, your customers, and technology are evolving. So, for your users to keep choosing you, you need to grow with them, adapt to trends, and keep iterating on your product. The right way to make product iterations is by conducting continuous product research, having frequent communication with your users, and actively listening to the market.

Did you know that user-centric organizations achieve 2.3x better business outcomes? 📊

By putting customers' needs front and center, research-mature organizations are driving better customer satisfaction (1.9x), customer retention (2.4), and increased revenue (4.2x). Learn more in our Research Maturity Report .

2. Focus on the business problem when presenting to stakeholders

It’s easy to get so involved in the product that you forget to mention how it helps the business when presenting research findings. To get stakeholders on board and to build great products that are profitable, always keep the business needs in mind. There’s no product without business success, so always align with your stakeholders and bring it back to team KPIs and business metrics. To convey your story, it’s a good rule of thumb to start each cross-team meeting by presenting the business problem, then sharing how adding a certain feature decision will help you solve it, before getting into the data that backs this up.

3. Embrace your curiosity

One of the biggest mistakes you can make in product research is letting cognitive biases take over the process. Work in teams and ask questions out of curiosity—consider research a way to disprove your hypothesis or challenge your assumptions, rather than a way to prove them right. As Prerna Kaul, Product Lead for Alexa AI at Amazon explains, you often gain more insight from an answer you don’t want to hear. “A huge trust-buster is when researchers sell an idea to customers and reinforce their pre-existing beliefs.” Doing so makes the user tell you what you want to hear but not what you need to know. It’s better to know that you have the wrong assumptions early on and build products that solve the right problem.

It’s non-negotiable to ensure that you are solving the right problem for the customer. Your solution is a painkiller, not a vitamin.

Prerna Kaul , Product Lead for Alexa AI at Amazon

4. Focus on the end goal rather than specific features

When you work closely with a product you’re passionate about, it’s only natural to think of all the possibilities, and minute details and features of the product. However, it’s crucial to understand that, while you might be the one making the internal decisions, the user will have the final call. Getting hung up on specific features will get you frustrated if users disagree, or lead you to make biased choices. To overcome this, you can write a research statement explaining the big problem you’re trying to achieve with the product. Come back to this before and after each decision, to keep your choices grounded in what’s best for the user.

“We always ask: Are we solving the right problem by creating this product? Is it going to have a measurable benefit to people?” says Nick Simpson, Head of UX at Airteam. “Then, we try to answer those questions through research methods to determine whether this investment will be worth it, to both business and users.” By thinking of the overall end goal at all stages, you get to build profitable products and features that really respond to that intention.

5. Take notes of everything

This one might go without saying, but it’s crucial to keep track of everything. Not just to inform future research and remind yourself where decisions came from, but to democratize research and bring the entire organization into your research process .

Set up a centralized research repository that anyone can access, and share it with your wider organization. Within the product team, keep a record of all user insights, even if they sound impossible to achieve at first. “These ‘futuristic’ thoughts or ideas are the ones that can either inform future iterations of the product or that you can creatively turn into something more feasible to design and build,” explains Nick. Keeping an organized information bank enables everyone on the team to get to know the user, the market, and why you’ve made certain decisions in the past.

6. Combine user feedback with data

While your users should be at the center of your business, don’t rely solely on their comments without checking other data. In reality, not everything people say is exactly what they do . Research participants can be influenced by any number of factors, mostly unconscious, so it’s important to use qualitative and quantitative data to reinforce each other.

For example, the users you interviewed might tell you they love a certain feature, but when you contrast those comments with heatmap data and time on page, you see that only a small percentage of your customers actually use it. Consider what research can be conducted to ascertain why this is, how you can improve those metrics, or whether it’s more helpful to refocus efforts on a different feature with a higher profit margin.

Keep learning about product research

In this chapter, we’ve covered a lot about product research:

• What product research is (and what it’s not)
• How researching your product is beneficial to your business
• The different methods you can use to conduct product research
• When to conduct product research
• Best practices for your research

Now, it’s time to kickstart your product research process in the next chapter. We’ll also talk about how to conduct product experiments and competitive analysis, so stay tuned.

Product research process