Stop 02 · Marketing Strategy & PositioningTopics · 2/9

Market Research Basics

In short

Before spending a rupee on ads, find out if people want the thing, how much they'd pay, and who else sells it. Research saves you from expensive guesses.

Systematically gathering information about your target market, competitors and customer needs before committing to a strategy — surveys, interviews, and secondary research (existing reports, data) are the main tools.

The blob walks down a colony lane with a clipboard, chatting with a resident at a gate.

Think of it like this

Opening a kirana shop in a new colony

Before opening, a smart owner walks the lanes, counts nearby shops, asks families what they buy daily and what they can't find. Only then does he decide what to stock. That walk is market research.

Watch it happen

From question to decision

Question

Desk study

Survey

Analyse

Decide

1/5Write one clear question, like 'Would college students pay ₹199 a month for healthy tiffins?'

The big ideas

What you need to know

Secondary research

Using data others already collected, like reports, news and public reviews. Start here.

Primary research

Collecting your own data through surveys, interviews or tests. Slower, but specific to your question.

Quantitative vs qualitative

Numbers tell you how many. Interviews tell you why. Good research uses both.

Watch for bias

Friends say nice things. Ask about past behaviour, not 'would you buy this?'

See it in code

Walk through the code

excel

1=COUNTIF(B2:B101,"Yes")2=COUNTIF(B2:B101,"Yes")/COUNTA(B2:B101)3=AVERAGE(C2:C101)4=COUNTIFS(B2:B101,"Yes",D2:D101,"Hostel")

1/3How many said yes, and what share of all answers that is.

Survey answers exported from Google Forms to Sheets. Column B is 'Would you try it?', C is the price they'd pay, D is where they live.

Save yourself the pain

Common mistakes

Oops

Asking 'Would you buy this?' and trusting the yes.

Do this instead

Ask what they bought last time and what they paid. Past behaviour is far more honest.

Oops

Surveying only friends and family.

Do this instead

Reach people who match your target audience, like a relevant college group or online community.

Your mission

Run a ten-person survey

~40 min

Quick check

You want to know WHY people abandon your app's sign-up. Which method suits best?

Go deeper

1Draft 5 questions you'd ask in customer interviews to validate a marketing assumption.
2Find 2-3 existing industry reports for a market you're interested in.
3Learn the difference between primary research (you collect it) and secondary (already exists).