Founding a startup can be daunting, it sure takes a lot of grit and patience to sustain one. The unending demand of launching a startup could get founders focusing on one part of the business and neglecting the other. This is not unusual however it can hurt the growth of your business in the long term. Market research helps startups stay on the topic of their game, this visual analysis allows them to accurately address the pain points of their target audience. Market research is conducted to know your audience, their beliefs, value, behaviors, wants, and needs; this information about the consumer makes it easy for you to create a tailored solution for your target audience. This approach helps you maximize the success of a potential product and service.

Why startups need to conduct research

According to Paige, CEO Mavensandmoguls “Before you launch your business and spend anything you need to conduct market research it is more important now than ever”. The increasing shift in competition and market is an essential reason to understand the market and identify techniques to position. In a research conducted by Earth web, 305 million startups are created globally every year. When startups conduct market research they are 80% away from the black hole.

Market research helps startups to:

  • Test their ideas;
  • Attract investors;
  • Avoid the failure trap: 42% of startups fail because there is no sufficient demand for their product/services.

Types of market research

Primary research

The methords involves the collection of information from your target market. The best people to ask about your business are those you intend to serve or those already using the same product or service of a competitor.

Primary research method

  1. Interviews: in-person or virtual interviews are a great way to get insightful information, monitor expression and better quantify the effectiveness of your interview. It is important to note that this is a two-way conversation and for effectiveness,you should ask questions that reveal your intention and help you achieve your goal.

  2. Online survey: if phone calls are not your thing- this might just be it. When setting questions for online surveys ensure you are specific and do not set complicated questions.

  3. Focus groups: the aim of focus groups is observation and conclusion. Usually a moderator anchors the conversation and experts share their opinion- conclusions are easy to make here as observers (business owners) have subjective access to expert opinion and body language.

  4. Observation: this kind of data collation has no link between the observer and the subject. Let’s say we want to study the influx of customers in Mcdonald's Las Vegas all we need to do is get in the location, observe, take notes and make decisions from the study.

Secondary research

Secondary research is access to data that is not yours however obtainable over the internet. Research conducted by Science Direct revealed that the internet archive was established in 1996. What this method requires is patience and exhaustive internet surfing. Secondary research is not cost-intensive and can generate good results if deployed the right way.

Questions your startup market research should answer:

  1. Your competition;
  2. Market size and share;
  3. Your ideal client avatar;
  4. Your customers’ needs and wants;
  5. Your customer's pain point;
  6. Your customer's objections;
  7. Your customer's demographics;
  8. Your strength, opportunities, weakness, and threats.

Tools startups can use to conduct market research:

  1. Buzzsumo;
  2. Moz;
  3. Statistia;
  4. Typeform;
  5. Google trend;
  6. Answer the public;
  7. Help a reporter.