Random Thoughts
April 6, 2023
So this week, I have decided to help the small guys (the SME’s) out a bit by tackling the issue of how you can conduct end-user research with a shoestring budget.
First off, let's all agree that end-user research brings many benefits and if you can afford to do it, you should do it. After all, knowledge is power, and you are more likely to make the right business decision when you know the market well, as opposed to guessing. Let’s also agree that end-user research should be left to the professionals (research agencies like us) to do, as opposed to doing it on your own which can be disastrous (I can make another post talking about this).
Now, with a shoestring budget, you obviously cannot afford to do it for every single business decision you make, so you need to prioritize it for the more important ones—especially those in areas you know little or nothing about. Of which, the following two scenarios are most appropriate:
When you want to enter a new market, may it be geographic, industry sector, or target customers;
When you want to launch a new product/service.
Besides that, it is important to understand that you do not need to spend an arm and a leg to conduct a large-scale quantitative survey with a statistically significant sample size for you to trust the findings. You can conduct a small-scale qualitative study and still confidently make strategic business decisions based on the findings. As I mentioned before in previous posts, qualitative research is about the whys, and you can make effective business decisions when you know the whys.
And to get more bang for your research dollars, you could spread it out strategically across multiple small-scale studies. Take for instance one of the two above scenarios where you want to launch a new product to increase your revenue, you can first conduct an initial small-scale qualitative research to compose the new product launch strategy. And once you launched it, periodic (quarterly, semi-annual, etc.) small-scale qualitative research can be conducted to adjust and optimize the product strategy on a continuous basis.
Well, that’s all I have to share this week. As usual, I hope this helps you in some way. But feel free to comment and let me know your thoughts. As always, follow us on our socials for more!
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