Market Research for Startups
Listening || Bas -Night Job(feat. J. Cole)
If you’re building an app, starting an ecommerce site, a product delivery, even going on a nice dinner date, market research is very valuable and keeps you from making a mistake that could otherwise be avoided. It is a continuous process and doesn’t stop after you decide to build a product or business. People’s’ needs change, technology advances and also, economic situations can be volatile. It’s thus an activity that should be undertaken as long as one is in business.
Market research for startup is essential as there is need to understand the needs of the target market. This contributes highly in determining the success or failure of the business in the future.Startups have unique research needs. This is because they are not well established in the market and in most cases it’s difficult to define their competition.
The main purpose of market research is being informed and enabling decision-making to be undertaken. Different market research techniques can be used to collect information depending on the type of business and target market.Market research is used to inform decisions at multiple stages of a product life-cycle be it ideation, concept, product development, launch and post-launch stage.It’s easier for a startup to monitor market research by focusing on these stages of development.
There are several tools that can be used for the market research.These include interviews, surveys and questionnaires which can identify critical information about the importance of the product and also the strengths and weaknesses of competitors. Apart from using close friends and family members, it is good to expand the research target audience.Gaining responses from an unbiased target market leads to more honest opinions and highlights flaws that the biased audience had not uncovered.
Interviews: These can be 1:1 interviews and are recommended as one can get really personal and in so doing obtain quality feedback.
Surveys: Online surveys are being used to collect feedback from customers. Depending on the feedback needed, they can be either open-ended or limited to certain answers.
Questionnaires: This consists of a series of questions and other prompts for the purpose of gathering information from respondents.
Behaviour observation: This is based on observing the target market, their needs and the trends.
Research : Online research from published articles, competitors websites and reports. Use data from previous market research that has focused on the same field.
In carrying out a refined market research, we can group our categories of research according to :
Industry: Narrow down research by focusing on companies related to your industry. In a technology startup, one is likely to learn more from other technology firms rather than focus on general firms.
Competitors: In testing out the competition, they can pretend to be the customer. This helps them get into the shoes of a customer and can know what is expected of them.
Customers : Get feedback from people using products of a certain company. Also have customer give feedback on a product and see what to improve on based on the feedback.
SWOT analysis(Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats): Taking your idea through this approach helps determine the viability of the idea and thus also a form of market research. It offers structured planning method that evaluates those four elements of a project or business venture.
Prototype: Before a product is released for use, provide customers with a prototype that they can use. From this collect feedback and use the information to know what you need to improve on.
Other market research approaches to consider in a startup:
Primary Market Research
Quantitative Research:
‘Emphasize objective measurements and the statistical, mathematical, or analysis of data collected through polls, questionnaires, and surveys, or by manipulating pre-existing statistical data using computational techniques.Used to quantify attitudes or behavioural patterns.’
Qualitative Research:
‘It is used to gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations.Used to provide an understanding of how and why things are the way they are.’
Secondary Market research:
Involves processing data that has been collected by another party. This data is available through other sources such as reports and articles.Usually less costly and quicker to obtain.
By doing market research as a startup business, you can be assured that your product or service is properly priced and positioned and you are offering the most sought product as per the customer’s preference. This will make your company a powerful force in a competitive business landscape and thus more sustainable.
References:
https://www.questionpro.com/blog/how-to-do-low-budget-market-research-for-your-start-up/
https://www.udemy.com/how-to-conduct-market-research-in-startups-and-small-firms/
https://startupnation.com/start-your-business/small-business-expert-advice/conduct-market-research/
