Product Research:

Product research is the process of determining whether

your idea for a new product or service might be successful
and how best to develop and sell that product. This
process begins by investigating the market to see if similar
products exist. Once you know what’s already available to
consumers, you can determine if there’s a demand for your
idea.
Why product research matters for product teams
If you don't know what your customers want from your product, even your
most brilliant idea risks failure. Here's how product research helps you align
your product ideas with customer needs:
Understand user needs and pain points: your product needs to solve the
customer's most pressing issues, but how can it do that if you don't know what
issues they’re having? Product research helps you gather data and behavioral
insights to understand your users’ problems and build the solutions they need.
Align user needs with business goals: understanding customers' needs and
how they align with your product and business goals helps you plan a product
roadmap that'll serve both the users and your company.
Higher scope for innovation and accuracy: when you have clarity about
what your customers need, you can find innovative ways to solve their
problems and build a product they'll love.
Gain a competitive edge: researching your competitors will help you
understand how to differentiate your product and uncover gaps in the market,
which can help you decide what features to build.
Simpler and more impactful prioritization: with product research, your
entire team is clear on how to prioritize initiatives to achieve customer delight,
making it easier for you to manage your product backlog.
8 steps for amazing product research

1. Define your research goals

2. Understand your users
3. Do market research for your product : Run thorough competitive and comparative
analyses to test the business potential of your product against other solutions on
the market, and engage in opportunity mapping to get stakeholder buy-in.
4. Get to know industry trends
5. Validate ideas with current or potential users: Once you’ve developed a strong sense
your users, market, and technology, it’s time to start testing concrete ideas and solutions.
Based on your early research, identify possible products, features, or upgrades that could
meet user needs as well as business goals. Then, run concept testing to evaluate the user
experience.
6. Test your MVP
The next step in your product research process is to develop a Minimum Viable Product
based on validated ideas and run tests to improve subsequent iterations.
(Minimum Viable Product or MVP is a development technique in which a new product
is introduced in the market with basic features, but enough to get the attention of the
consumers. The final product is released in the market only after getting sufficient feedback
from the product's initial users)
 PRICE RESEARCH
Pricing research is a method of research that measures and
evaluates the impact of changes in price of a product on its
demand. It is used by organizations to help determine an
optimal price for new products, in order to maximise revenue
and market share. This type of research is quantitative in
nature.
There are two key benefits of conducting pricing
research:
(i) the prediction of consumers’ response to price changes,
and
(ii) the discovery of psychological effects of price points on
sales (demand).
Pricing techniques help organizations determine what price
their target audience is willing to pay for their product
Main techniques used within pricing research:
•Van Westendorp Price Sensitivity Meter (PSM)
•Gabor-Granger Technique

1.Van Westendorp Price Sensitivity Meter (PSM)

This price sensitivity meter was developed by a Dutch
economist named Peter Van Westendorp. The Van
Westendorp Price Sensitivity Meter constructs a range of
acceptable price points for a given product, determining
the expected price range at which consumers will be
willing to purchase it.
PSM is used to understand customers’ pricing expectations,
rather than their willingness to pay or their likelihood to
buy. It is used to identify how much respondents would
expect a product to cost.
The question formats can vary, but usually take the following form:
•At what price would you consider the product to be so expensive that you
would not consider buying it? (Too expensive)
•At what price would you consider the product to be priced so low that you
would feel the quality couldn’t be very good? (Too cheap)
•At what price would you consider the product starting to get expensive, so
that it is not out of the question, but you would have to give some thought to
buying it? (Expensive/High Side)
•At what price would you consider the product to be a bargain—a great buy for
the money? (Cheap/Good Value)

Van Westendorp analysis is normally used for new products or if there has
been a considerable change to a product where no comparative pricing exists.
This technique enables you to find the optimum price range, where you can
maximise revenue and sales per unit sold.
2.Gabor-Granger Technique

Gabor Granger is a regular pricing technique by which a participant is

asked to say how likely they are to buy the product or service at a
stated price. It’s best to use a maximum of 8 to 9 test prices, which
should be presented in random order to avoid bias.

Basically, participants are presented with a concept of a product at a

specific price and are then asked if they are likely to buy. The price is then
changed and the potential customer is again asked if they would buy or
not. This continues systematically until the participants indicates they
would not buy that product concept.

Analysis of the findings helps to produce a market projection for demand

of the product across the price points.
Knowing all you know about Product X above; would you buy Product X for
Rs. 100?
Yes
No

They give the answer YES for Rs. 120

They are asked the question again for Rs. 125 – the answer is YES
The question is asked a third time for Rs. 130 – the answer is NO

So, the maximum they are willing to pay for Product X is Rs. 125
 Distribution Research

Distribution Research refers to :

•The collection and analysis of information related to the sales of a product or
brand and its distribution through various retail channels so as to enable the
management make better decisions.
•In depth distribution research about a brand/product provides information
related to its retail presence, market size and share, sales achieved.
•It tells how well the competitor is selling and seasonality of demand.
Marketing and distribution research is a key means to understand and
analyze the marketing environment and thereby helping eliminate any weak
links present. Distribution research helps gain insights into the following:
•Better management of sales channels with enhanced knowledge
•Better segmentation of distribution within sales channels
•Roles played by intermediaries in the sales process
•Understanding the centers of influence within a sales channel
•The company’s market position within a particular sales channel
 The main intermediaries in a distribution process are agents, wholesalers,
distributors and retailers. Various methods of marketing and distribution
research are:
Qualitative research – In-depth interviews, focus groups, objective tests
Quantitative research – Surveys, Questionnaires

Promotion Research:
Promotion is when a business decides which forms of communication it wants
to use in their marketing plan. Research is done that details market research,
segmentation, and budget. Large companies might choose to do a national
campaign, especially if the brand is already familiar to the consumer.

Promotion research may be defined as any research that helps in development

or execution for evaluation of advertising and promotion mainly focused on
the development process and wider varieties of research
The Promotion research is an application of marketing research aimed at the
measurement of advertising effectiveness.

Promotion keeps the product in the minds of the customer and helps stimulate
demand for the product. Promotion involves ongoing advertising and publicity

It is the role of the advertiser to measure the effects of communication. The component
of communication model should be studied thoroughly and evaluation should be made
on their effectiveness. The components of communications are – a) Source factors, b)
Message variables, c) Media strategies and d) Receivers of the message.
The advertising research is to be conducted to measure the advertising impact or the
result of the effort with the help of detailed study on advertising objectives, product
appeals, and media effectiveness. The objectives of the research should concentrate
on – i) the optimum utilisation of advertising budget; (ii) the choice of media in
implementing an advertisement campaign; (iii) the effect of advertisement on the
target audience; (iv) to bring cost-effectiveness in advertising.