What market research skills can you use to predict technological innovation success?

1 Customer discovery

Customer discovery is a crucial first step in the innovation process, where you validate your problem-solution fit. To gain a better understanding of your potential customers, you should use market research skills such as qualitative research methods (interviews, focus groups, observations, and ethnography) to gain deep insights into their pain points, motivations, and expectations. Additionally, quantitative research methods (surveys, polls, and analytics) can be used to measure the size, characteristics, and segments of your market. Finally, creating customer personas, journey maps, and empathy maps can help you create realistic profiles of your ideal customers and understand their goals, challenges, and emotions.

2 Customer validation

Customer validation is the second stage of the innovation process, where you aim to validate your product-market fit. To do this, you must use market research skills to discover if customers are willing to pay for your innovation, how much they value it, and how you can reach them. To determine the optimal price for your innovation and how it affects customer demand and satisfaction, you can use pricing research methods such as conjoint analysis, Van Westendorp model, and Gabor-Granger technique. Distribution research methods like channel analysis, customer acquisition cost, and customer lifetime value can help identify the best ways to deliver your innovation to customers and how to retain them. Additionally, positioning research methods like perceptual mapping, brand identity, and value proposition can help differentiate your innovation from competitors and communicate its benefits and features.

3 Customer creation

During the customer creation stage of the innovation process, you should use market research skills to increase your awareness, reach, and loyalty among your customers and users. Techniques such as market segmentation, targeting, and positioning can help you tailor your marketing mix to distinct customer groups and niches. You can also use advertising research methods such as copy testing, media planning, and campaign evaluation to optimize your advertising messages, channels, and budgets. Additionally, loyalty research methods such as customer satisfaction, net promoter score, and customer retention can measure and improve customer loyalty and advocacy.

4 Customer retention

In the fourth stage of the innovation process, customer retention, you need to use market research skills to ensure your customers and users are happy, engaged, and loyal. To achieve this, you may use user research methods such as usability testing, user feedback, and user experience to evaluate and enhance the functionality, usability, and desirability of your innovation. Innovation research methods like ideation, co-creation, and prototyping can involve your customers and users in the innovation process and generate new ideas, features, and improvements. Trend research methods like trend analysis, scenario planning, and foresight can anticipate and adapt to the changing needs, preferences, and behaviors of your customers and users.

5 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?