The allure to start an online business is gaining momentum with each passing day. By quickly setting up an online store, you can tap into over 4.56 billion internet users every day. The flexibility it affords and the numerous available tools to help grow a business will have people migrating in droves.

 But before the website and the store comes the idea of a product you'd like to sell. To help increase their success rate at online business, most start-ups opt to utilize the minimum viable product. Before going any further, what is a minimum viable product (MVP)?

What Is A Minimum Viable Product (MVP)?

A minimum viable product (MVP) can be looked at as a prototype of the actual product. This product has basic features for its performance to help learn customer's needs. In turn, it helps you test your hypothesis and see if it solves a solution. 

It sounds like a lot of work, yes, but they go a long way in helping any start-up save considerable money. The feedback received from the minimum viable product can let you know if it will sell or not. With such information, you can easily tweak it to meet your consumers' wants and needs and experience successful sales.

 But there's a problem: you don't understand the market very much. What's more, you haven't been able to identify the right call for your Minimally Viable Product(s). This is where good market research comes in, and this guide will show how to do that. 

Market Research

Market research is the collection of information that will help increase the success of a product in the market. The first thing you want to do identify the topic you'd like to research. Your product and its uses will determine the topic.

After you've done this:

• Draft a hypothesis.

• Identify your research methods.

• Carry out your research and then collect your data

Methods to use include surveys, observation, interviews, and observation. Here are the top effective marketing research strategies for businesses looking to enter a market. 

Create User Personas

Start by looking at your competitors and the type of customers they attract. Go ahead and create a user persona, a fictional character, that matches the data you found. This will identify the people you can send surveys to and what to include in them.

 Inexpensive and easy to conduct, surveys are probably the most preferred research methods. Once the data has been provided, it is straightforward to analyze. But always make sure that the questions help identify your customers, their goal, and what gets in the way of reaching it.  

Carry Out Individual Interviews

The above should help you have a target market in mind. But now, you need to understand their concerns, which you can do through an interview. Whether it's an online-based or a one-on-one interview, always remember to focus on their needs and frustrations.

Avoid asking loaded or leading questions, be slow to speak and quick to listen. If there's something that needs clarification, request it openly and warmly. You want to create a good impression from the get-go. So, avoid constantly touting your product and focus on how you present yourself. 

Conduct Observational Research

You can conduct observational research in two ways:

• Covert observation

• Overt observation

Covert observation involves you observing consumers use your product without their knowledge. Never take a video or audio while doing this, but always note down their reactions. Over observation, on the other hand, involves asking for permission while a consumer uses your product. 

Data Analysis

The final step is where you take all the feedback and analyze it. As you explore it, you can create a visual representation by using a flow model. You can also opt for the affinity diagram method. This is where you separate data into easy-to-digest chunks. 

All the above can help you identify a market for your product. If you'd like to go a step further and define your product and grow it in a competitive space, contact us today.

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