What are the key metrics to track in startup market research?

In startup market research, key metrics to track include Market Size (total addressable market, served available market, and share of market), Customer Segmentation (demographics, psychographics, behavior, and geography), and Competitor Analysis (market share, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats). Also, tracking Industry Trends and Customer Satisfaction levels can provide valuable insights. Remember, these metrics should guide your strategic decisions and help you understand your position in the market. If you have any additional thoughts or contributions, please reply to this comment. I always appreciate and look forward to hearing more from you. Thank you!

When conducting startup market research, it's essential to focus on key metrics that offer insightful indicators of growth and potential success. Metrics such as customer acquisition cost (CAC), lifetime value (LTV), churn rate, and customer satisfaction scores provide invaluable insights into the company's scalability and sustainability. Additionally, keeping a close eye on market trends, competitive landscape, and customer feedback can further enhance the understanding of the market dynamics and inform strategic decisions.

Know your market size: TAM, SAM, SOM (think pie slices ) Understand your customers: Pain points, demographics, behavior, satisfaction. Size up the competition: Market share, strengths & weaknesses, pricing. Track marketing & sales: CAC, CLTV, ROI, conversion rate.

Track TAM & SAM to understand your market size. Deep dive into customer needs and build a clear customer persona. Size up the competition with market share and pricing. As you grow, track CAC & CLTV to optimize your efforts.

This is the MOST important part of your research. You must sit with at least 10 potential customers, understand their needs (try using the "Jobs-To-Be-Done" framework), present your potential solution and take criticism in order to iterate. The easiest way to launch a failure is to not listen to your users. Once you have launched any version of your product, keep your ear to the ground: user research doesn't end when you launch, but rather amplifies. Make sure you are collecting feedback and analyzing user behavior to see potential improvements and opportunities. I personally really like Hotjar for data gathering and live interviews for detailed insight gathering.

The book "Traction" by Gabriel Weinberg goes in depth into the many marketing channels you may use to promote your product. Research your initial target market and see where they are most likely to first hear about your product. If it's a B2C product, the answer may be Meta Ads. If it's B2B, maybe SEO + Referrals. See what the competition does and how it's working out. Once you have a few channels selected as candidates, invest small amounts of money in each and see how CAC and time-to-sale behaves. This will greatly influence your plans regarding the amount of marketing spend to expect for the medium term and your sales goals.