This talk is targeted towards a technical audience (e.g. engineers and scientists) who are encountering primary market research (PMR) for the first time in their quest to build a great product that solves real life problems. In this talk, we first explore why PMR is important, then we use a real life product example to look at how different research methodologies can be used to answer questions and validate hypotheses at different stages of the product development process. We close the talk by offering some tips and tricks to help people get started with PMR.

1. © 2014 ConceptSpring© 2014 ConceptSpring
Introduction to
Primary Market Research
Elaine Chen
September 2014

3. Showerhead landscape – circa 1996
Price$2 $200+
ExperienceBasicPremium

4. Showerhead landscape – circa 1996
Price$2 $200+
ExperienceBasicPremium

11. Showerhead project summary
• Broad and non-specific problem statement:
– “Define a great shower experience”
• Highly specific and technical outcome required:
– “Build us a showerhead that delivers this
experience, and gets us back into the lead”
• How we bridged the gap:
1. Define the question to ask / hypothesis to test
2. Choose the best PMR methodology to answer
those questions / validate those hypotheses

12. Picking the right methodologies
Question posed Research methodology chosen Qualitative or
quantitative?
Who buys
showerheads?
Detailed interviews Qualitative
What makes a great
shower experience?
Detailed interviews
Immersion
Qualitative
What is the detailed
use case?
Immersion
Observation
Qualitative
What are the
technical specs?
Usability studies in the instrumented shower Qualitative +
Quantitative

13. Picking the right methodologies
Question posed Research methodology chosen Qualitative or
quantitative?
Who buys
showerheads?
Detailed interviews Qualitative
What makes a great
shower experience?
Detailed interviews
Immersion
Qualitative
What is the detailed
use case?
Immersion
Observation
Qualitative
What are the
technical specs?
Usability studies in the instrumented shower Qualitative +
Quantitative

14. Picking the right methodologies
Question to pose Research methodology chosen Qualitative or
quantitative?
Who buys
showerheads?
Detailed interviews Qualitative
What makes a great
shower experience?
Detailed interviews
Immersion
Qualitative
What is the detailed
use case?
Immersion
Observation
Qualitative
Qualitative
What are the
technical specs?
Usability studies in the instrumented shower Qualitative +
Quantitative

15. Common methodologies
• Detailed interview
• Observation / shadowing
• Immersion
• Longitudinal diary study
• Photo essay
• Usability benchmark
• Focus groups
• … etc
• Qualitative (<30 samples) • Quantitative (>1000 samples)
• Surveys
– On line surveys
– Conjoint analysis
– Pricing studies
• Monadic
• Multiple monadic
• Van Westendorp
• … etc
– Customer satisfaction: NPS, P/M
fit
• Web testing
– A/B split, Multivariate
– Web analytics
– … etc

16. Shower project
• Detailed interview
• Observation / shadowing
• Immersion
• Longitudinal diary study
• Photo essay
• Usability benchmark
• Focus groups
• … etc
• Qualitative (<30 samples) • Quantitative (>1000 samples)
• Surveys
– On line surveys
– Conjoint analysis
– Pricing studies
• Monadic
• Multiple monadic
• Van Westendorp
• … etc
– Customer satisfaction: NPS, P/M
fit
• Web testing
– A/B split, Multivariate
– Web analytics
– … etc

17. Qualitative, then quantitative

18. “This is a fine piece of research--
thoughtfully designed, deeply
instrumented, and genuinely
interesting in asking and answering
important questions. And it is
especially gratifying to note the result:
this is the highest priced showerhead
at Lowe's now, but still their best
seller. It is a solid example of what
breakthrough design should do:
create premium value for enterprises,
while giving customers something
they love and think is worth the
money.”
Larry Keeley, IDSA, President, Doblin,
Inc.
Image credit:
continuuminnovation.com

19. Image credit: groupquality.com

20. The Net Promoter Score (NPS) Question
• “How likely would you to be purchase this product at
this price?”
– Extremely likely
– Moderately likely
– Neutral
– Moderately unlikely
– Not at all likely

21. Photo credit: 5circles.com

22. Image credit: netpromotersystem.com

23. The Product Market Fit Question
• “How disappointed would you be if you can no longer
use [this product]?”
– Very disappointed
– Somewhat disappointed
– Not disappointed (it isn’t really that useful)
– N/A (I don’t use this product now)
Source: Sean Ellis - http://www.startup-marketing.com/using-survey-io/

24. Image credit: http://www.smashingmagazine.com
A/B Split Testing

25. Image credit: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com
Multivariante testing

26. Getting started with primary market research
• Articulate 3-5 hypotheses to be tested
• Define characteristics of research subjects
• Make a list of 30 people to call
• Ask for 10-15 minutes of their time
• Talk to them face to face if possible, via video Skype if
not
• Interpret results, adjust hypotheses
• Rinse and repeat

27. Summary
• Primary market research is a science and an art
• Primary market research is learnable
• Primary market research saves you time & $ - do it!
• Plan it before doing it
• Get out of the building!

29. Get out of the building!

30. Thank you
@chenelaine blog.conceptspring.com