Spend it wisely: A market research primer for designers

I’m excited to announce a new article that I wrote for Core 77 called “Spend It Wisely: A Market Research Primer for Designers.” Here’s a bit of teaser text.

Market research is expensive—not only for the time and money required to execute it, but also for the opportunity cost it represents to the organization sponsoring it. Each dollar or hour given to a project draws on a company’s budget, chipping away at the financial and human resources available to direct to other initiatives. For this reason, organizations must be deliberate in choosing both the projects they pursue and the methods they leverage to solicit customer insight. Data gained is valuable only if it’s used to inform an organization’s development and marketing initiatives.

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Ultimately, I’d like this article to act as a resource to help product managers determine how best to stretch dollars available for market research in these tough economic times. And while I can’t possibly profile all research methodologies available for soliciting customer insight, I will take on the four—ethnographic research, listening labs, focus groups, and surveys. In each, I will discuss the method’s strength and value to the product development process, cost, and timeframes

>>>>>Read full article here

As with anything of value, this article wasn’t created alone. I’d like to acknowledge all those who offered feedback and direction on my multiple drafts along the way. To Sarah Billings, Steve Portigal, Adriano Galvão, Cori Schauer, Brian Kaufmann, Niti Bhan, and Judy Maritato, thanks for your constructive criticism! To Alex Caffarini, Walter Blotkamp, Jay Hirschberg, and Josh Chernin, our email exchanges regarding your past experiences in purchasing market research were invaluable. Thank you! And finally, to my editor at Core 77, Allan Chochinov, your continued support and guidance was critical to making this article as robust as it is. Thank you for pushing me. I’m now very proud to share this article with the design and business communities.

Categories: Design, Ethnographic research, Market research