Main Takeaways: - Why is market research important and how it helps drive product market fit - What are various ways to do market research - Outline some best practices for market research techniques: Surveys and 1:1 user research

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6. Market research
to drive product
strategy
Ankit Desai
Product Manager,
LinkedIn

7. Agenda
Market research overview
Why is market research important?
Ways to do market research
Surveys best practices
1:1 user interviews best practices
Bringing it all together

8. “Some people say, "Give the
customers what they want." But that's
not my approach. Our job is to figure
out what they're going to want before
they do. I think Henry Ford once said,
"If I'd asked customers what they
wanted, they would have told me, 'A
faster horse!'" People don't know
what they want until you show it to
them. That's why I never rely on
market research. Our task is to read
things that are not yet on the page.”
- Steve Jobs, Apple

9. Some past products which struggled to gain traction
These products did not catch on due to lack of customer interest after launch.
Could proper market research have prevented this?

10. Why is market research important?
Market
researc
h
Learn more about Customers
Understand who are your customers
and details on their persona
Find out about the problems
Learn more about the problems that
customers face, and how often they
face it
Find about the
competitors
Understand what are potential
solutions to the problem, and
how elegant they are
Learn about customer
needs
Find out customer
requirements and use cases
Single most important role of the product manager is to research user needs, understand the
problems/issues, and prioritize them for solution

11. Market research process
Identify the
problem
Develop the
research plan
Conduct the
research
Analyze and
report findings
Take action
Define exactly
what problem you
are trying to solve
for
Define the
objective of the
research study
Execute the
research using the
primary and
secondary
methods
Collect data
during the
research method
What information
is needed to
accomplish the
objective?
Which research
methods should
be used?
Analysis of
collected data,
and interpretation
of results
Reporting of
findings and
provide suitable
recommendations
Define appropriate
plan for execution
Define MVP, and
metrics to
measure along
the way
Execute POC and
release product to
users

12. Ways to do
market research

13. Multiple ways to do market research
What people do What people say
A/B testing
Eye tracking
Usability
studies
Clickstream
analysis
Search log
analysis
Surveys
1:1 user
interviews
Card sorting
Focus groups
Primary
research
Secondar
y research
Newspaper
articles
Expert interviews Academic papers
Here are some examples of two market research techniques. Product managers should use
both of these methods for market research

14. Let’s focus on two most common market research techniques
Both of these are primary market research techniques. This is where a product manager
should be spending majority of time in market research.
Surveys
1:1 user
interview
s
Primary market
research techniques
Surveys are generally sent to a large group of
current or potential customers or end users.
Contain a series of questions which provide
quantitative information from a large sample set.
1:1 user interviews are done with a subset of
people and provide qualitative information that
help understand the problem statement in more
detail.

15. Surveys

16. Are the questions closed ended?
Attributes of a good survey
Survey should be sent out across as many channels as possible to gather maximum
number of responses. More survey results you have, more reliable & trustworthy the
results will be.
Are the questions quantifiable?
Are the questions un-biased & not skewed?
Is the survey short (completes in 5 mins or less)?

17. Examples of good survey vs bad survey
How would you rate
the online store on
our site?
Scale of “1-Don’t like
it” to “5- Love it”
Good
Do you like our
website and online
store?
Yes/No
Bad
Make the questions unbiased
How would you rate
the usability of our
online store on a
scale of 1 through
10?
Good
What is the
best/worst part of the
online store and how
would you improve
it?
Open ended text
Bad
Make the questions close ended
How would you rate
our shipping
methods on a scale
of 1 to 10?
Good
On a scale from 1 to 10,
how likely will you
recommend a close
friend to our website and
online store based on
shipping methods?
Bad
Make questions simple to
understand
How often do you visit
our online store?
<1 times per month, 1-3
times per month, >4
times per month
Good
How often do you visit
our site?
Open ended text
Bad
Make the questions quantifiable

18. Analyzing survey responses
Ensure the response size is
representable sample of
target market
1
Summarize the responses
by questions and by
different sections (if any)
2
Provide key insights and
recommendations based on
survey responses
3
Key insights Recommendations
Insight 1 Recommendation 1
Insight 2 Recommendation 2
Insight 3 Recommendation 3
Use a sample size calculator
to determine # of statistical
significant responses to get

19. 1:1 user
interviews

20. User interview best practices
Start with setting
expectations and ground
rules
Start with low intensity
questions and then high
intensity questions
Start with a goal and
create a question
template
After the session, send
them notes to confirm
their responses
Remember, during the session, you are there to listen, and understand their
user problems. Ideally record the session, so you can come back later to
review them.

21. Questions to ask to the user
Try to understand: who, what, when, why, where and how. Keep questions open ended, and
seek clarity or examples as much as possible. It is ok to go off script!
Who (which persona) faces this user problem?
How did the users solve this problem?
When or how often user faces this problem?
What did they like about the solution? Or, don’t like?
What is the problem faced by the users? How painful it is?

22. How to analyze interview responses
Did the users mention the same problem, or did they not mention a problem at
all?
Did users find solution to the problem?
Is the solution to the problem acceptable?
Is this problem worth solving for?
Are users unhappy with the solutions they found?
Look for patterns in the interview responses. Multiple users should have mentioned the same
problem for it to be considered for a solution

23. Bringing it all together
1. Market research is
critical
Market research is critical to
product success.
Before starting any new
product development,
ensure that you know your
customers, their problems,
the potential use cases, and
the competitors.
2. Ways to do market
research
Market research can be
primary and secondary.
Most common types of
primary market research
methods are survey and
interviews.
3. Surveys and
interviews best
practices
Surveys provide quantitative
responses needed as part of
market research. Ensure that
the questions are unbiased
and closed ended.
1:1 user interviews provide
qualitative research data,
which is complementary to
surveys. It is important to
listen to end users, and
understand their problems.

24. Thank you

25. Best practices for 1:1 user interviews
Needed to truly understand the customer problems at a deeper level
Define the goal for user interviews
Choose the right audience
Get them comfortable
Make the conversation free flowing
Listen deeply
Do not ask leading questions

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