By Marty Cagan · svpg.com · LinkedIn
Marty Cagan argues that market research tools such as surveys, analytics, focus groups, site visits and usability testing are valuable but have clear limits in product work. Tensions between marketing and product teams lead some teams to ignore useful data and others to rely on tools for questions they cannot answer. The tools answer questions about who users are, how they behave and where they struggle, but not what product to build. Customers cannot reliably specify new solutions because they can't envision them, don't know what's possible, and don't know each other's needs. Cagan notes that he knows of no winning product created primarily through market research, so research should refine existing products rather than generate new ones.
01Key takeaways
- Use market research to understand users, behavior and usability problems, not to decide what product to build.
- Write survey questions carefully, since biased or unclear questions give your team a reason to dismiss the results.
- Treat survey and focus group data as one input, and be ready to offer a solution different from what users request.
- Instrument products early so analytics and usage data accumulate for ongoing learning and adjustment.
- Recognize that focus groups can be skewed by vocal participants and are often held before users can actually try the product.
- Combine deep user understanding with knowledge of what technology now makes possible to find breakthrough product ideas.
02Key sections
- Tension between marketing and product
- Marketing and product people often disagree about market research, with each side seeing either its benefits or its limits. This confusion causes teams to either underuse or overrely on these tools.
- Overview of research tools
- Cagan walks through surveys, site analytics, data mining, focus groups, site visits, user profiling, usability testing and competitive analysis, noting strengths, pitfalls and the need for careful interpretation.
- Questions the tools can answer
- Research helps answer who users are, how they use the product, where they stumble, and what they like or want changed, but not the core question of what product to build.
- Why customers cannot tell you what to build
- Customers struggle to imagine solutions, lack awareness of technical possibilities, and rarely recognize shared needs with others, so asking them yields incremental or band-aid ideas.
- Using research for refinement
- Research is most useful for improving an existing product with active customers, and should be understood as data for refinement rather than a source of breakthrough concepts.
03From the post
“A partnership dedicated to teaching best practices to product teams and product leaders”
04Frameworks mentioned
Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.