AMA: Guidewire Software VP Product Marketing, Axel Kirstetter on Market Research

We are yet to use "it depends". well, it depends.. on how much time you have for your launch, how much risk is associated with the launch and how big your budget is. I recommend breaking the research into two parts. Discovery and validation. former to understand trends, topics and issues. latter to ensure you are on the right path.

To understand industry trends and customer behavior, i like to use a mix of quantitative and qualitative market research methods. On the quant side, lots of number crunching is done using source data from SFDC, email automation and other CRM like systems. On the qual side, message testing, website user analysis, and win/loss interviews.

Collecting and analyzing structured and unstructured data is indeed one of the hardest things with research. In general, I recommend that you partner up with your UX teams who share this pain and are usually pretty good at it. One of the popular tools in this space is Dovetail but there are many others depending on what you want to do. Website engagement, message testing, regression analysis, max diff insight and more. One of my favorite tools for pre-launch research is conjointly

Don't overthink it. there is a lot of free information and data available. Look through patterns in your CRM or call data. join Sales on pitches. Listen in to SDR calls. Reach out to LinkedIn contacts or other internal contacts and simply ask for 15-30 mins of their time and interview them

A few thoughts on this:

1. Follow the business goals! If it is adoption, then research how users consume new product information. If it is to increase revenue, then identify which features are most valuable

2. Follow the pareto rule. Identify the 20% of questions that will provide 80% of the value

3. Keep market context in mind. Understand differentiation and existing anchor points. this is critical for differentiation

In general, research should be mapped to business objectives. Specifically, and from a discovery mode, I advocate for research into value (for the purpose of pricing and packaging), segmentation (for targeting and sizing purposes), and persona (for messaging and campaigning). In terms of validation, message testing and website heatmaps. One tool that helps with many of these is questionpro

The number one reason to seek an external partner is to neutralize internal bias. The reverse of that coin is external partners don't understand the industry. There is also a distinction to be made between click-through w/l programs and 1:1 interviews. Former requires a good internal perspective of data and its quality. The latter is all about the ability of the interviewer to double- and triple-click into an answer to find the "why".

In an inbound capacity, it is a source of information that allows you to back up or shape your PoV. Sometimes they are spot on sometimes their insight does not apply. That said, if you have a seat with an analyst firm, its always worthwhile to run a query with them and ask for feedback. On the quant side. Usually I find it difficult to translate their conclusions into my circumstances and environment, as definition don't line up. I go back to the source data that is more usable.

Market intelligence is distinct from competitor intelligence. They serve a different purpose. The key is to tie it into business objectives. If your sales team is doing great and your roadmap is strong, then competitive insights are not really needed. I go back to what i said a few times. tie research type, volume, time investment, area etc. with business objectives.

With existing leads one needs to check how representative they are of the market overall. Is their use case one that can be replicated. Is their brand name recognizable so they serve as an anchor beachhead.

We answered a question on market research for new markets earlier. Essentially, its checking into similarities of customer base and use case, understanding supply chains and distribution factors, and getting on top of regulatory and legal realities.

Another user asked a similar question. In terms of a tool for organizing and curating inputs, I recommend Dovetail. It takes time and diligence. There are two ways to take this. 1. for long-term planning purposes, where you need to spend the time developing your GtM strategy. Here, trend insights are critical. Over time analysis, that is. 2. for hero projects where quick fixes and wins matter. Whatever you choose to do, make sure it aligns with business priorities and goals