Market research is incredibly important, yet less understood by startups and SMEs. Particularly for them, it is important to know cost-efficient solutions, as they typically lack of resources. I offer a set of solutions and evaluate them on the basis of various dimensions.

1. A toolbox of cost-efficient market research
solutions for startups and SMEs
’Know your customer’
’Understand your target audience’
’Listen to what your clients are saying’

2. Market research is incredibly
important
Test your ideas and assumptions!
Fail fast, iterate, and rise again
based on user feedback!
Refine your product and become more
user-friendly!

3. Customer orientation
More important than some people allegedly state
The benefit of not
listening to your
customer is a MYTH!

4. The innovation process
The idea Commercialization
Importanceofuserinvolvement
Implementation Prototype

5. Customer involvement
A painful investment that pays off
The idea Commercialization
Costsoflaterealization
Implementation Prototype
First phase of customer involvement

6. Customer involvement
The idea Implementation Prototype Commercialization
Most important questions to ask
─ Does the need
really exist?
─ Who are the target
segment(s)?
─ Is this the best way
to satisfy the need?
─ Is the satisfaction
of the customer
need feasible in
this way?
─ Does the product
satisfy the need?
─ Is the product
understandable?
─ Is the product
user-friendly?
─ How to improve
my product?
─ How can more
customer value
be created?
─ For what and how
much is the
customer willing
to pay?

7. Are you customer oriented?
(Adopted from Narver and Slater, 1990)
─ To what extent do you focus on facilitating customer
commitment?
─ To what extent do you focus on creating customer
value?
─ To what extent do you focus on after-sales service?
─ Is understanding your customers’ needs among your
primary objectives?
─ Is customer satisfaction among your primary
objectives?
─ How often do you measure customer satisfaction
explicitly?

8. Market research is important, but also
INCREDIBLY
─ Pay up to $1 / response
─ Never know who is answering
─ No direct conversation with
respondents
─ Having users to answer for the
wrong reasons may harm
relevance
─ Time consuming
─ Traditional surveys don’t
facilitate learning or
knowledge sharing
─ People rarely see what others
are saying
─ There is a huge loss both in
knowledge gaining and in
qualitative information
TRICKY & EXPENSIVE
(for companies)
UNREWARDING & BORING
(for users)

9. How can relaibility be assured?
Maslow’s (1954) hierarchy of needs
External
Internal
Drivingfactor
Reliability
Biological and Physiological needs
Basic life needs – air, food, shelter, wamth, sex, sleep, etc.
Safety needs
Protection, security, order, law, stability, etc.
Belongingness and Love needs
Family, affection, relationships, etc.
Esteem needs
Achievement, status, responsibility, reputation, etc.
Self-actualization
Personal growth and fulfillment

10. Where would you turn to in order to
get user input?

11. Market research toolbox
Your most important dimensions
Cost-efficiency
and time benefits
Reliability and
Reciprocity
Traditional market
research companies
Online survey
websites
Social media
Direct market research

12. Market research toolbox
─ Cost efficient?
─ Reliable
responses?
─ User motivation
─ Targeted
audience?
─ Detailed
statistics?
─ Social?
─ Statistically
reliable?
─ Transparent?
Traditional market
research companies
Online survey
websites
General social media
Extrinsic Extrinsic Intrinsic Intrinsic
Focused social mediaDirect market research
Extrinsic/
Intrinsic

13. Making market research social