Asking potential buyers directly is an essential part of what one needs to do to be in a position to identify what shape, texture and feel are to be offered for products to be bought. In some sense, it needs to be co-created by the buyers to some limit yet not fully defined by them. Once a few sources are identified for answers, it is important to put research design together, describing the available data collection and analysis procedure. Investigating the attitudes of buyers, their current buying behaviors, and another related behavior is critical, as well as their feelings towards problems and existing solutions, and their market and product knowledge.
The main types relevant for pre-start-up include semi-structured and structured interviews. Semi-structured interviews can use themes and invite the respondent to develop their answer in their words and time. They can use prompts such as pictures or videos alongside a few words outlining a topic an interviewer intends to gather information on (Malhotra 23). Recording an interview or question discussion is a quality improving way of ensuring one captures all the relevant information and insight shared by the interviewee. As a matter of ethical conduct on should seek permission to record from a participant in advance and ideally gain an emailed confirmation from them indicating they are okay with the procedure.
A usability test is an another way that allows researcher learn from the reactions of potential users or buyers and investors; these reactions are then used to fine-tune the product further, maybe one can then decide to do another round of prototype testing before finally producing the new product in large quantities. Applied to pre-start-up implies that the researcher becomes part of the online community, contributing to discussing and creating new ones.
Works Cited
Malhotra, Naresh K., and David F. Birks. Marketing research: An applied approach. Pearson Education, 2007.
