How can you compare customer discovery and market research?

1 What is customer discovery?

Customer discovery is a process of testing your assumptions and hypotheses about your target market, customer segments, value proposition, and business model. It involves talking to potential customers, observing their behavior, and collecting feedback. The goal is to learn from your customers and validate or invalidate your hypotheses. Customer discovery is often used in the lean startup methodology, which emphasizes experimentation, learning, and iteration.

2 What is market research?

Market research is a systematic way of gathering, analyzing, and interpreting data about a market, industry, or product. It involves using various methods, such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, observations, or secondary sources, to collect quantitative or qualitative data. The goal is to identify market trends, opportunities, threats, customer characteristics, preferences, and satisfaction. Market research is often used in the traditional product development process, which emphasizes planning, analysis, and execution.

3 How are they different?

Customer discovery and market research are different in several ways. First, customer discovery is more focused on learning and validating hypotheses, while market research is more focused on measuring and describing phenomena. Second, customer discovery is more iterative and flexible, while market research is more structured and formal. Third, customer discovery is more suitable for early-stage innovation, when there is a lot of uncertainty and ambiguity, while market research is more suitable for later-stage innovation, when there is more clarity and stability.

4 How are they similar?

Customer discovery and market research are also similar in some ways. First, they both aim to understand the customer and the market better. Second, they both use various methods and tools to collect and analyze data. Third, they both require critical thinking and interpretation skills to draw insights and conclusions from the data.

5 How can you use them together?

Customer discovery and market research are not mutually exclusive. You can use them together to complement each other and enhance your innovation process. For example, you can use customer discovery to generate hypotheses and ideas, and then use market research to test and refine them. Or, you can use market research to identify market gaps and opportunities, and then use customer discovery to explore and validate them. The key is to use the right method at the right time and for the right purpose.

6 How can you learn more?

If you want to learn more about customer discovery and market research, there are many resources available online and offline. You can read books, blogs, articles, or case studies on these topics. You can also take courses, workshops, or webinars to learn the theory and practice of these methods. Or, you can join communities, networks, or events where you can meet and learn from other innovators and researchers. The more you learn, the more you can apply these methods to your own innovation projects.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?