Starting a business from scratch is NOT a small or easy task!
It takes a lot of effort, patience, and hard work. Absolutely staggering amount of startups fail during the first 2 to 3 years. The main reason startups fail is that they don’t pay attention to the vital details and ignore the crucial questions that need answering.
Who is my customer?
Do they have a pain point?
Is my product their pain reliever?
Is there a demand for my product?
Do they want to spend money on my product?
Is there a competitor or someone else already doing similar things ahead of me?
In a nutshell, startups avoid doing their research so, end up failing in finding the right market for their product. We have gathered some information and created a simple question checklist for you so that you can find the best market for your product and stay two steps ahead of your competitors.
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☑ Would a customer be willing to pay for your product or service?
Your customers are your priority. Market research will help you identify your potential customers based on age, gender, geographical location and so on. Companies try to understand their customer’s expectations through questionnaires, surveys, discussions, PR packages, etc. This helps them in improving their product according to the customer needs.
Questions to ask:
What features make your product/service valuable to the customers?
Does your product fulfill the needs of your customers?
What competitive edge does your product have that other’s don’t?
☑ Who are your competitors?
Keeping a close watch on what your competition is doing in the market is also crucial. “Keep your friends close and enemies closer.” This statement has a huge importance in life, especially when it comes to business. Market research can enable you to keep a tab on your rivals. You may take in certain techniques from them that can either drive you ahead or decrease the development of your competitors. It will also assist you with keeping your development predictable through the improvement of your product. Moreover, you can always think of your competition as partners and collaborators more than competitors.
Questions to ask:
Who is already in the market with the same product and/or services?
What are others doing to relieve the customers’ pain point?
How is there solution different than yours?
How did they work out the challenges that you’re having?
Bootstrapping your way to a successful startup.
☑ How can Market research help you in minimizing risks and loss in business?
It helps in maintaining a strategic distance from errors, for example, poor marketing and advertisement techniques, so your business has a possibility of flourishing. Keep a lookout for good social media marketing techniques and focus on your startup’s branding.
Questions to ask:
Where can I get resources within the budget?
What are the risks and benefits of having in-house resources or out-sourcing the work?
Which marketing technique would work best for my product and/or service?
☑ How will it help you in decision making process?
The outcomes from Market research will enable your business to set attainable objectives and connect with the most ideal customers. Research brings forth information and researchers utilize this information in taking decisions about their products.
Questions to ask:
Where to spend your budget?
What and where to advertise?
What improvements does your product need?
What new products should you launch?
What prices should you offer?
The data and analysis that you will gain through market research will help you in answering all of these questions.
Conclusion
These are some of the basic questions that should get you to start a well-structured market research for your product and/or services. Understanding the dynamics of the demand and need in the market plus the pain points of your customers will help you understand your solution better.