It goes without saying that starting and running a business is filled with choices, both easy and hard. Either way, you need the right information to make those choices. And the information you need is to do research. That’s right – do your research! Either online research, qualitative interviews, or quantitative surveys.
Online research
Online research is probably the easiest way to test your choices. Do searches around your topic and read as much as you can. Read other people’s opinions, their articles, and their blog posts. Understand what they are thinking, and why they made the decisions they did. Use your intuition to understand their viewpoints and if they apply to you.
Qualitative interviews
Qualitative interviews are the second most important way to research. Your main concern is whom you will interview. It’s important to interview potential customers who have a reason to buy your product or service. Be sure you aren’t leading the interviewees and allow them to answer candidly. Best to work with an independent interviewer to ensure this not the case.
Quantitative surveys
This method is probably the best way to ask people their opinions. They allows you not lead the conversation (as long as you form the questions correctly) and do so with a statistically significant number of people.
The best way to understand how people think is to combine quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews. This gives you the flexibility to understand customers and conduct interviews will them.
Conclusion
It’s important to make decisions based on data, not just your gut feeling. Gut feelings are important, but not as important as understanding the data and opinions of people who would purchase from you. Take your time and perform one of the methods outlined in this article. It will make a world of difference!
Jeff Reynolds
Principal, Reynolds Consulting