What is market research? Market research is to get the suggestions and opinions of the interviewees through various ways, summarize them and study the general characteristics of things. The research methods are divided into quantitative research and qualitative research. In the Internet industry, commonly used quantitative research methods include questionnaire survey, AB test and eye movement test. Commonly used qualitative research methods include user interview, focus group interview, usability test, field observation and so on.
The author is engaged in SaaS industry. Before planning and designing a product function, I will interview and investigate the prototype customers (customer companies that meet the usage scenarios). Based on the author's investigation experience in a well-known watch company, this paper talks about the steps and matters needing attention in conducting prototype customer interview and investigation in SaaS industry.
Because it is a prototype customer survey in specific usage scenarios, the purpose of each interview is relatively clear. For example, the purpose of my interview and research is to understand the use of watch company's supervision patrol shop, the existing problems and the places that I hope to improve, and to provide reference for the design of patrol shop function.
We can understand the usage scenarios by searching terms and trying competing products.
Through Baidu's entry, we can know the significance of shop patrol: by supervising on-site patrol, we can fully understand the situation of the store, so as to find and solve the problems existing in the store and the lack of company management details.
Through the search engine, you can know the industry background and operation of the interview company, and have a general understanding of the interview company. Then through telephone communication or online communication, communicate with the docking personnel of the interview company simply. For example, the author communicated with the marketing manager of the watch company through QQ, and learned that there are more than 50 supervisors in the company who currently use patrol shops, covering all provinces in China, and currently use paper forms to record patrol shops.
Through the simple communication before the formal interview, we can have a general understanding of the company's shop patrol use, and then we can start designing the company's interview outline.
The interview outline design includes opening remarks, interview questions and closing remarks. A good interview outline is half the success of this interview. The opening is mainly to introduce the purpose of the interview to the interviewer, and the closing is to thank the interviewer for the interview opportunity. Interview questions should be aimed at the content of this survey, such as the scene of shop inspection. Generally, the number of exam preparation questions is less than 15, so the questions should be extended in the actual interview process.
Arrange the interview time with the client company by telephone or online, and it is best to reconfirm with the client the day before the interview. If we have time to change, we also need to inform the client company in advance.
When going to a client company for an interview, it is generally necessary to prepare interview tools such as a computer, a printed interview outline, a recording pen, a notebook or white paper, and a signature pen.
When visiting a client company, we need to pay attention to business etiquette. Dress neatly on the day of the interview and arrive at the client company 10~ 15 minutes in advance.
Explain the purpose and content of this interview to the interviewer with the opening remarks of the prepared interview outline. And ask customers if they can record. If they can't record, they need to record the interview manually. If they do, they can go back to our company to sort out the interview records after the interview investigation.
After the opening remarks, we began to ask the interviewer of the client company with the interview questions in the interview outline. The actual interview questions need to be expanded according to the actual situation of the interview.
For example, I prepared an interview question of 1 1 for this shop tour interview in the watch industry. One of the questions is, "What are the inconveniences for you to record the store tour evaluation with paper forms at present?" . The marketing manager interviewed said that the inconvenience is that the paper report needs to be photographed by the supervisor and sent to the headquarters for filing, and the results of the shop tour need to be processed twice to form statistical reports. At this time, it is necessary to further extend the interview according to the statistical statements required by the client company. For example, ask another question, "What data indicators are counted in your store inspection statistics report? Is it to supervise the completion of inspections, store qualifications or other aspects? " .
After the interview question and answer is completed, thank the client for the interview opportunity with the conclusion of the prepared interview outline. If the company conditions permit, we can provide the interviewer with a small thank-you gift, such as a notebook or signature pen with our company logo.
After returning to our company after the interview, we need to sort out the original interview records of this survey. Keep the integrity of information in the process of sorting out, and don't do subjective information filtering.
If conditions permit, it is generally necessary to interview more than three prototype customers in specific usage scenarios, and write interview investigation reports according to the results of these interviews and draw interview conclusions. For example, regarding the function of this shop tour, after interviewing the client companies in the watch industry, I also interviewed and investigated the client companies in the catering industry and the pharmaceutical industry, and finally got some product design suggestions suitable for different industries.
After finishing the interview and research report, file it or share it in the company. The research report will serve as a reference for subsequent product functional design. For example, this survey report on shop patrol for watch industry, catering industry and pharmaceutical industry points out the common problems that prototype customers encounter when using shop patrol at present. When designing the function of shop patrol, we need to provide corresponding product solutions to these problems to meet the pain points of customers' needs.
The above is the arrangement of my prototype customer interview and research in SaaS industry. If you have different opinions or suggestions, please comment and exchange.