What is market research? Market research is through a variety of ways to get the advice and opinions of the respondents, and to summarize this, the study of the general characteristics of things. Research methods are divided into quantitative research and qualitative research. In the Internet industry, commonly used quantitative research methods include questionnaires, AB tests, eye movement tests, etc. Commonly used qualitative research methods include user interviews, focus group interviews, usability testing, field observation, etc.
The author of the book "Market Research" is the author of the book "Market Research".
The author is engaged in the SaaS industry, and before planning and designing a certain product feature, he will conduct interviews and research on the prototype customers (customer companies that match the usage scenario). The following combines the author to a well-known watch company for the store inspection function of the research experience, talk about SaaS industry to carry out prototype customer interviews and research steps and considerations.
Since the research is conducted on the prototype customers of a specific usage scenario, the purpose of each interview and research is relatively clear. For example, the purpose of my interview and research is to understand the use of the watch company's supervisory patrol, problems and hope for improvement, in order to provide a reference basis for the design of the patrol function.
We can understand the usage scenarios by searching for words and phrases, competing products trial, and so on.
Through the Baidu entry, we can know the meaning of store inspection: through the supervisor's on-site inspection, to fully understand the situation of the store, so as to find and solve the problems of the store and the deficiencies of the company's management details.
Through the search engine, to understand the interview company's industry background, business situation, etc., to have a rough knowledge of the interview company. Subsequently, through telephone communication or online communication, and interviews with the company's docking personnel to carry out a simple communication, such as the author and the interview of the table company's market manager through QQ communication, to understand that the company is currently using the patrol store supervisors more than 50 people, the use of the scope of coverage of the country's provinces, the current use of paper forms for the inspection of the store records.
Through the formal interviews before the simple communication, we roughly understand the use of the company's store tours, you can start the design of the company's interview outline.
The interview outline design includes an opening statement, interview questions and closing statement. A good interview outline is half of the success of the interview. The opening statement is mainly to introduce the purpose of the interview to the interviewer, and the closing statement is to thank the interviewer for providing the opportunity to interview. Interview questions should be focused on the content of the research, such as the inspection of the scene to start, generally prepared questions in 15 or less, in the actual interview process for the extension of the question.
Make an appointment with the client by phone or online, preferably reconfirming with the client the day before the interview. If there is a change in the schedule, we need to inform the client company in advance.
When you go to a client company to conduct an interview, you generally need to prepare interview tools, including a computer, a printed interview outline, a tape recorder, a notebook or white paper, and a signing pen.
To the customer company interview research, need to pay attention to business etiquette. You need to dress neatly and arrive at the client company 10-15 minutes early on the day of the interview.
Use the opening sentence of the prepared interview outline to explain to the interviewee the purpose and content of the interview. And ask the customer whether it can be recorded, if not, you need to manually record the interview records, if the recording can be in the interview research after the end of the interview, back to our company and then organize the interview records.
After the introductory remarks, we began to use the interview questions in the interview outline to ask the client company's interviewees. The actual interview questions need to be extended according to the actual situation of the interview.
For example, for the watch company's store visits, I prepared 11 interview questions, one of which was "What is the inconvenience of using paper forms to record store visits?". . The market manager of the interview said that the inconvenience lies in the fact that the supervisor needs to take photos of the paper reports and send them to the headquarters for archiving, and the results of the store visits need to be processed twice before the statistical reports can be formed. At this time it is necessary to extend the interview further for the statistical reports needed by the client company. For example, further questions, "May I ask what data indicators are counted in your statistical report on store inspections, is it the completion of the supervisor's inspection of the store, the store's qualification or other aspects?". .
After the interview questions and answers are completed, use the closing statement of the prepared interview outline to thank the client for the interview opportunity. If the company allows, you can provide the interviewee with a thank-you gift, such as a book with our company logo or a signing pen.
After the end of the interview back to our company, we need to organize the original interview records of this research. In the process of organizing to maintain the integrity of the information, do not do subjective information filtering.
Conditions allow, generally need to be more than three prototype customers to carry out specific use scenarios of the interview research, and based on the results of these interviews and research for interviews and research report writing, to draw conclusions from the interviews. For example, for the shopper function, in addition to interviews with customer companies in the watch industry, I followed up with interviews with customer companies in the restaurant industry and the pharmaceutical industry, and finally came up with recommendations for the design of the shopper function products for different industries.
After the interviews and research reports are completed, they are archived and can also be shared within the company***. The research report will be used as a reference basis for subsequent product design. For example, the research report for the watch industry, the restaurant industry and the pharmaceutical industry pointed out the common problems encountered by the current prototype customers using the store tour. When designing the shopper function, we need to provide corresponding product solutions for these problems to meet the customer's pain points.
The above is my compilation of the steps for conducting prototype customer interviews and research in the SaaS industry. If you have different opinions or suggestions, please feel free to comment and exchange.