During this session, participants will learn about market research and customer personas. They will create a customer persona for their business idea and identify target customer segments. Various market research tools and methods will be discussed, and participants will develop survey questions to test assumptions about customer needs and the desirability of their product or service idea. The importance of market research for understanding customers and iterating on business ideas will be emphasized.

3. During this
session we
will work on
this part of
the canvas

4. WHAT WE WILL COVER & WHAT ACTIONS/ INSIGHTS YOU’LL LEAVE WITH
WHO: Know your customer! Identify current & future target market/ customer
segments for your business, and create a customer persona
WHAT: Gain an understanding of different market research techniques & tools
HOW: Know how to do market research (ask questions to your current/
future customers) and use the research to make informed decisions
FEEL: Consider how you might respond to negative feedback or insights
gained through market research that make you question your business idea
WHY: Know why market research is important in understanding your customers
needs, and the pitfalls of not doing it

5. ACTIVITY INSTRUCTIONS:
Everyone, take a sheet of A4 paper
Decorate your sheet, then make yourself a paper plane!
2 minutes…Go!
Next:
Form small groups of 3-4 people – from the same start line, fly your planes.
As a group, decide which plane design
1. flies the furthest
2. looks the best
3. you think you can replicate perfectly

6. Now…
As a team, you must make 20 of the selected plane design
Remember, your plane needs to follow these rules:
• Be identical to the selected, agreed upon design
• The design or any other features cannot be changed after you start
production.
Ready, set…GO!
The team that finishes first, with 20 identical planes, that can fly & look the best,
will win!
Now let’s de-brief on what we have learnt from this activity.

7. VIDEO SERIES:
Genelle- Seafolly- 3 videos

8. What are the different types of marketplaces, or market opportunities, for your
business? You can have multiple marketplaces and they can change over time.

9. What market opportunities can you identify for your idea? Will they change over
time?
© Global Sisters 2018
Use the post-it notes to put market opportunities into your
canvas

10. Let's check-in on where your business is right now…
• Have you made a choice on the business idea you are pursuing?
• Are you creating something from ‘scratch’ on your own?
• Are you improving on an idea that is already in the market?

11. In this picture of a girl and her mother picking out a toy:
• Who pays? (ie who is the customer?)
• Who is the user?
• Are they the same or different?
• What might be some of the characteristics of the customer?

12. HEAR SEE
SAYDO
THINK/ FEEL
NAME:
_________
INSTRUCTONS: Use the diagram in your Resource Booklet. Draw your customer,
give her a name & describe what she hears, sees, does, says & thinks/ feels.

13. By creating a customer persona, you now know who your ideal, target
customer is. Now its time to see if you can “segment“ them further:
• Are there differences between your CURRENT and FUTURE/ POTENTIAL
customers?
• What are some of the sub-categories or segments of your target customer?
GROUP DISCUSSION: Lets look together at an example of a business in the
room today or the Facilitator's business.

14. 1. How old are they?
2. Where do they live?
3. Are they mostly men or women?
4. How will you reach them?
5. Where do they get their information from?
6. What type of content works best?
7. How do they make purchase/ spending decisions?
INDIVIDUAL CANVAS WORK:
• Answer the questions above
• Can you think of any other questions to work out more details about your
target customers?
• Spend some time refining your customer segments on your canvas
Your customer segments

15. © Global Sisters 2018
Use the post-it notes to write down your target
customer and customer segments here

16. Not sure… Have you checked your buzz words?
Knowledge is everything.
The more you know about the NEEDS,
DESIRES, EXPECTATIONS,
ASPIRATIONS, TASTES, SPENDING
HABITS of your target customers - the
more successful you are likely to be!

17. Together as a whole group, or in your table groups, do the quiz.
If you are doing market research you are...
❑ Typing questions you need to into Google to get the answers
❑ Standing in the shopping centre asking people what their favourite ice cream
flavour is
❑ Gathering information about what your target customer likes and dislikes
❑ Researching what customers want at the library
An assumption is
❑ Always true
❑ Something that we automatically think is fact
❑ A type of graph
❑ Always false
Young people who play sport, listen to pop music and use social media
could all be placed in the same customer segment?
❑ True
❑ False

18. Knowing your target audience is critical! Your business idea simply won’t work
if it doesn’t appeal to what your potential customers want or need.
CASE STUDY: Let’s look at the example of Modibodi period underwear. Kirsty
(the founder) had a business idea- to create high tech underwear to empower
women and girls everywhere manage their periods and bladder leaks.
If her product is for ALL women & girls, why did she need to do market
research?

19. Once we have determined WHO we want to ask (our target customer) and
designed the specific questions we want to ask (coming next), we need to
decide on HOW and WHAT tools or method we will use to do the market
research.
You can simply ask friends and family, or create surveys/ questionnaires,
and ask people in your target group to answer them.

20. There are also lots of FREE technology that help you not only conduct the
survey but reach people in your customer target market that you don’t
personally know. Have you heard of or used any of these?
Let’s have a look at a few of them in a bit more detail…
But remember, don’t get overwhelmed by the technology- they are just tools
that could help you connect with customers and potential customers. Talking
face-to-face directly to customers and potential customers is equally if not
more important.

21. Great for quick polls,
real-time feedback from
your personal or
business network.

22. www.surveymonkey.com
Great for in-depth email
surveys

23. https://www.quicktapsurvey.com/
Great for mobile phone
or tablet face-to-face
surveys

24. Great for email surveys or when
embedded in a social media
post, text message or website

25. Now that you have identified your customer, your objective is to verify your
business idea & reach (and sell) to your ideal customer. Does your offering
address what “matters“ to your customer? Here are a few ways you can get
started…
1. COMPARE AND LEARN
Google It! Does it already exist? What can you learn from those businesses?
Take 5 minutes to do that right now if you have access to the internet. Don’t
be discouraged if you see something similar- its critical you know your
competition and will help you refine your offering.
2. TEST YOUR ASSUMPTIONS- ASK QUESTIONS
Test your assumptions about the need for your product/ service with your
target customer by asking them questions.
3. GETTING YOUR FIRST CUSTOMER/ USER?
Use market research results to refine your business offering and work out how
you will get your 1st, 5th and 20th customer?

26. ACTIVITY: Your challenge is to create 3 questions on your idea and its
desirability. You want honest, critical feedback. Ask your target customer about:
1. What they think of your product/service
2. Whether your offering meets their needs
3. How to reach/ sell to them!
Question prompts…
• What would make it easier for you to do….
• What occasions would you normally (buy/do)….
• What is your biggest barrier to….
• Does the existing solution in the market (add in brand name(s) meet your
needs?
Take 5 mins to write down your 3 questions.

27. INSTRUCTIONS:
Do a face-to-face survey with anyone in the room or venue who
you think might be a potential customer
OR
Create a Facebook Poll to 3 potential customers (either on the
Sister School Facebook group or to your network by tagging
specific people).
ACTIVITY: Spend 10 minutes conducting your survey/ poll.
DISCUSS: What did you learn? How can you use this information to make
informed decisions in your business?
REMEMBER: When looking at the results make sure you analyse it by their key
demographics (gender, age, location, income, relationship status, language etc)
and by characteristics from your customer persona.

28. • Market research isn’t just a once off activity- its continuous. Your
business won’t work if it doesn’t appeal to what your potential
customers want or need.
• Taking the time to know your target audience’s actions, thinking,
feeling, experience and opportunities are critical to your overall
business success.
• Knowing your customer experience is key to refining and
improving your offering and keeping them as customers (repeat
business and advocates of your business).
• Keep doing market research as you grow your business so you
can take advantage of opportunities to better meet the needs of
your customers.
CASE STUDY:
Pod & Parcel coffee
capsules market
research

29. Complete the 10-1-15 Challenge in preparation for the next session:
- Build at least 10 questions (you’ve already started this!)
- Use a digital platform (such as Google Survey, Facebook Poll or
Survey Monkey) to create your questions.
- Survey or interview at least 15 people! Enlist help from your
family and friends. Feel free to share it in the Sister School Facebook
group too.

30. Think about how you will FEEL and RESPOND if you:
• get feedback you don’t like?
• realise you have chosen the wrong target group?
• find out that already many business like yours out there?
• can’t find anyone to do your survey?
• are not confident learning how to use new technology (e.g. Survey
Monkey)?
• realise you have to change something about my idea?
Your objective is to verify if your business idea really does address what
'matters' to customers. Using that information not as a de-motivator or set back
but as an opportunity to refine or change your idea is the key to building a
viable business.
…

31. Check out the BOOKET & BUZZ WORDS used in Session 2,
and get a sneak look at the BUZZ WORDS we will be using in Session 3.
© Global Sisters 2018