In advisory meetings with clients, I often recommend that before initiating user research, they should first return to the root of the problem: what specific issues are we hoping to solve? This article aims to explore the practical benefits of conducting user research for product and service development, as well as how to define the core target audience.
Evaluation Foundations for Business Development
From a business development perspective, I typically evaluate based on the following key points:
Defining the Core Target Audience Before Entering New Markets:
It is crucial to define the core target audience before a company considers entering a new market. Understanding this audience's needs and characteristics helps in formulating targeted market strategies.
Stabilizing Core Traffic Pools and Further Developing Adjacent Audiences:
Once the traffic from the core target audience is stable, companies can consider how to expand to adjacent audiences, thereby increasing market share.
Re-defining Target Audience Behaviors Over Time:
As markets, technology, and consumer behaviors change, it is necessary to regularly reassess and adjust the target audience to ensure that the company’s products and services still meet market demands.
I want to focus on the first point, delving into how to define the core target audience before a product enters a new market.
Definition of the Core Target Audience
A commonly reiterated principle in business literature is that before establishing a relationship with consumers, one must first gain their trust. So, what characteristics can enhance this sense of trust for consumers? The answer varies depending on the defined target audience.
For example, if you're a consumer with no experience in fitness, deciding to start exercising in the new year, you might first look for well-known brands that you've heard of online or from friends when you walk into a nearby gym. These brands provide a sense of safety and trust. This herd mentality is a common trait among many novice consumers.
However, if you are a consumer who has already gone through several personal trainers, your focus might shift from brand recognition to whether the trainer's coaching style and philosophy align with your own. As consumers gain experience, they gradually form their preferences and learn to evaluate the quality of products and services more deeply.
It’s important to note that a consumer's intelligence does not necessarily correlate directly with their level of investment. The key factor is whether the motivation for self-identification exists within their mental model. For instance, some long-time gym members might have a shallow understanding of fitness, but their goal could simply be to maintain health rather than pursue professional knowledge in fitness.
The Value of User Research
User research can assist businesses in identifying the most valuable core target audience. These audiences can clearly recognize the strengths of your product or service, thereby reducing the cost of gaining their trust. For gym operators, if the operator is an experienced personal trainer, they need to clearly articulate their differentiating advantages to attract the core target audience.
In such cases, a company may not have a clear understanding of its competitive advantages in the market. Here, we can use quantitative surveys and interviews to explore the traits and impressions consumers hold, leading to brand recognition.
In short, we aim to identify the “memory points” for consumers. These memory points are key characteristics that consumers can quickly recall when considering a product or service. Once these memory points are clarified, we can further explore the characteristics, past behaviors, and mental models of the target audience.
Our ultimate goal is to identify deep-seated factors within behavioral patterns and find suitable triggering scenarios through marketing touchpoints, enabling consumers to easily recognize our products or services at the right moments.
Conclusion
Today's discussion highlights the following points:
· User research should begin with the definition of the core target audience.
· The most valuable core target audience can lower the communication costs of gaining trust.
· User research can inventory touchpoints and consumer memory points, aiding product growth in new markets.
I hope this discussion helps you better understand when to conduct user research to promote product and service development within your business strategy. Through in-depth user research, not only can you enhance the market adaptability of your products, but you can also maintain an advantage in a competitive marketplace.
