作为一个创业公司的创始人，你很可能有很多事情要做. 创办一家企业并非易事, 但是你拥有激情和动力去实现你的想法.
然而, when you’re in a business day in, day out, it can be hard to see things objectively. 许多早期的创业者 假设 顾客会理解他们产品或服务的复杂性, even after you’ve spent time developing your MVP and it has gone to market - but being so close to something often skews your perception of things.
This is where using market research can truly make or break your business - in the start-up stages, 每一个小细节都很重要. And whilst it’s likely that you’ve already done research into your target audience and how to build a product they’ll love, you probably been so busy that you haven’t thought to ask them how they’re finding your product or service.
Conducting market research shouldn’t be a one-time that’s done in the early stages of a start-up. 事实上, 一旦你把你的产品或服务推向市场, in many ways the hard work really begins and conducting market research is even more critical.
当资金有限时，你不能犯很多错误. Conducting regular market research can help to pre-empt any difficulties that your customers are facing and ultimately save you time, 金钱和资源. As much as you back your product, ultimately it’s the opinion of your customers that really counts.
例如, recently we received a marketing email from Notion about their newly launched version of the platform, 概念2.0. 在这篇文章中，他们说:“2015年，Notion几乎死了. We were building a product that we thought was cool — not a product that people needed. Our mission was (and still is) to give people the tools to customise their own software, 但总少了点什么. 所以我和我的合伙人重新开始.”
在很多情况下, 一个企业的第一个产品或服务并不是他们生产的最好的东西. With any start-up, you need to anticipate teething issues that will allow you to grow as a business.
Many start-ups simply don't have the funds to spend thousands of pounds on the help of a market research agency to find out what their customers think about them. 然而, the good news is there are ample opportunities to do market research that will help you to validate how your customers feel about your brand. 最棒的是? 这些方法不会花费你一分钱.
在这里观看完整的网络研讨会.
电子邮件营销
One of the best ways that you can understand how your customers feel about your business is simple - ask them! 你可以使用Mailchimp等电子邮件营销软件快速轻松地做到这一点, AWeber或ConvertKit.
You can create a short customer satisfaction survey for free using software like Survey Monkey or Google Forms. Think about what questions will help you to really understand how your customers perceive your offering. 如果调查时间太长，受访者会感到疲劳或退出, 所以尽量保持简短. We would also recommend making your survey anonymous to ensure the answers are honest and uninhibited!
在可能的情况下, ask someone who doesn't work in your business to look over the survey before it goes live to make sure your question wording isn't biased or misleading and that you’ve covered all bases. Using an external agency is always beneficial in this situation because your survey is compiled by experts who will know the right questions to ask.
Often our clients come to us because they want to understand very specific things about their target customers. We also have links to hundreds of panels around the world - so if you need data from a very specific sub-category of person, I.e mothers in Spain who have a Netflix subscription, we can find those people on your behalf.
社交媒体反馈
即使你在社交媒体上只有很少的粉丝，也要好好利用! 写一些社交媒体帖子，引导你的调查的追随者(再次), using an incentive is a great way to encourage people to complete it) or you could use your Instagram stories to gather feedback.
Instagram故事, either use the poll function to ask a question or the question and answer box function. 这是两个非常简单但有效的工具，可以让你变得更快, 简单的反馈，并找出你的听众对你的产品的真正看法.
例如, you could put a few different polls up asking "Have you purchased from us before? 是/否”和“你会把我们推荐给你的家人和朋友吗?? 是/否” . 如果你对一个问题有两个以上的可能答案, 使用“测验”功能，让人们从多个答案中进行选择. 但是，请记住，当你使用测试, 看起来好像有一个“正确”的答案，而实际上并没有. 写一份免责声明是值得的，这样你的受访者就会意识到这一点.
焦点小组
Focus groups are an amazing opportunity to gather in-person feedback from your customers. 再一次。, we would recommend offering a goodwill gesture to participants to thank them for giving up their time to take part.
组建一个焦点小组, invite 5-10+ customers together in a group scenario and ask them questions about whatever it is that you're trying to gather feedback on. You may want to consider hiring a professional moderator for this, many work freelance.
Focus groups are particularly useful when you want to gather feedback on a particular area of your business. 毕竟，有谁比你现有的客户更适合去问呢? We would recommend asking their opinion on your existing product / service AND the customer journey - ask questions such as “Was it easy to buy our product? 我们怎样才能使这个过程对您来说更容易呢? 我们怎样才能使我们的产品/服务更好?”
These are just some of the ways that you can utilise market research as an early start-up founder to validate how your customers feel - have you tried any of these methods before?
If you would like any further advice or you are interested in potentially working with us, 我们很乐意听到你的消息! 请随时给我们发电子邮件 hello@omnisis.co.uk
