In the fourth post of the series (eleven market research related questions that a new business owner and founder should be asking), I will be covering the topic of "Does my product have a feature that responds to a unique need, pain point or frustration of a specific group of people?"
This is a critical question, taken together with question 1 ("What value does my solution add versus the existing solutions in the market?"). Will there will be market demand for my product or not (i.e. will the product be sale-able?). What will make my product stand out and be different to the other solutions in the market? Will customers pay for my product to alleviate their pain or frustration in this area? One step for you will be to consider your target customers and their own perspective(s) towards the need or problem that they are trying to solve. Your target customers are the specific group of people who are looking to have needs met or pain points resolved and frustrations minimised, if not completely removed.
They are a number of frameworks you can use to get you into the mindset of target customers. One framework is called Jobs To Be Done. The Jobs To Be Done framework breaks down the situation(s) of target customers from at least four angles. (1) The job: what are target customers trying to accomplish. (2) Their motivation(s): what is the target customers' motivation(s) or underlying goal(s) in getting the job done. (3) The outcome: what is the target customers' desired result or outcome - what does the need when met look like?; what will solving the pain or frustration mean to target customers? (4) The constraints: what are the limitations or obstacles that target customers are facing in getting the job done. Once you can articulate your answers to these four angles, then consider: how will the feature(s) of your product link with each of the four angles?
One example is PayPal, which saw growth in 2020 during the pandemic. (1) The job: Consumers need to make payments and purchases products; (2) Motivation: Concerns about virus transmission using traditional methods of payment such as cash (3) The outcome: Consumers desire a digital payment solution that is both secure and easy to use (4) The constraints: what was happening at the time such as restrictions on movements and more people shopping online as a result of the restrictions and/or concerns of virus transmission.
In linking PayPal's features to the four angles, PayPal CEO Dan Schulman gave three reasons: scale, technology, and brand. See The Motley Fool article linked above. "We can make it simple and easy for checkout. We can make it One Touch when somebody comes in. We have a scope of products and services that I'd say no competitor has right now." "...Users trust PayPal to keep their payment information secure, and that can be essential when a customer is visiting a merchant's website that they've never used before..."
Other frameworks you can use to view the situation from your target customers' perspective include:
Customer Journey Mapping where you look at the buying process and how your target customers approach the buying process. Customer Journey Mapping can highlight the steps and actions you can take to connect better with your target customers.
Customer Personas where you create profile(s) of your ideal customer, including characteristics such as demographics (age, stage of life such as being new to the job market or closer to retirement, income level, etc.), attitudes, lifestyle, etc. Afterwards consider how the feature of your product will fit into the lives of the target customers using the personas you created.
Both these frameworks can be quite complementary to the Jobs To Be Done framework. We will cover them in more detail in next month's post.
Market research will support you to answer the question of "Does my product have a feature that responds to a unique need, pain point or frustration of a specific group of people?". This is by validating and testing any assumptions you have using feedback from potential target customers about their needs and unique pain or frustration points. Market research will also answer the importance for customers to solve the problem and what is the profile of these target customers who are actively seeking to get their problem solved; and what they are willing to pay.
If you would like to hear more, please reach out via the Contact Form for a free consult call. I help owners of small businesses to be clear in communicating the scope of their offers and in identifying their ideal clients or customers.
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