How important is market research in a product launch, and what methods do you find most effective?

Market research is a must-have for a product launch. As Marketers, one of the requirements for doing our job (well) is to have a thorough understanding of the market. That means 1) identifying the personas our product(s) are intended to serve, 2) understanding each persona’s pain points and needs, 3) analyzing competitors and their abilities to serve the needs of the market, including understanding how our solution is (hopefully) differentiated, 4) having a sense of customers’ willingness to pay for the solution we’re launching (pricing and packaging), 5) knowing what messaging will resonate with our intended audience, and…so much more. In other words, if we haven’t taken the time to research the market, doing our job is nearly impossible.

In terms of which methods are most effective, it likely depends on what industry you’re in, the size of your company (are you a startup trying to build a new category, or are you an enterprise company with lots of paying customers), and many other factors. I work in B2B SaaS, so I’ll share some thoughts on what I’ve seen work for my teams. But know that what I’ll list below are merely sources of information, each with their own pros and cons, so ultimately it’s up to Marketers to sift through it all to separate the signal from the noise.

- Customers: If they’re actively engaged with your product, they can be a great source of feedback. An engaged customer might be willing to demo your product back to you, showing you how they use it, where they find value, but also where they need you to improve it to meet their unmet needs. The challenges with customers are 1) getting a large enough sample size so you don’t over-rotate to just a few customers’ feedback, and 2) making sure your customer isn’t sugar-coating their feedback, because they’re a people-pleaser.

- Sales and Pre-Sales: AEs and SCs (speaking from the B2B SaaS perspective) talk to your customers and prospects all day, every day. So they will have tons of insights about customers’ needs, product gaps, your competitors advantages and disadvantages, etc.

- Analysts: Analyst firms speak with countless customers who (if you’re an established company) use your solution, and other customers who use your competitors’ solutions. The volume of input that analysts collect is very helpful, and the competitor insights are an especially useful piece that you might not be able to acquire on your own. But analysts have their own biases, so take their research and analysis with a grain of salt, especially if you’re an unknown startup trying to break into a space.

- Competitors: Your strongest competitors have teams of talented Product Marketers, Product Managers, and executives trying to understand and serve the market, just like you. Read their press releases, their blogs, their product pages, their 10Ks, and any other collateral you can get your hands on. You’ll learn a lot about your shared market this way.

- The socials: Where do your customers hang out and talk about your product (or your competitors)? Reddit? X (FKA Twitter)? Hacker News? Luckily, I've got a social media team who semi-regularly shares social media mentions of our own company, as well as our competitors. The unvarnished opinions and rants of some of these users can be very insightful (but also can be completely misdirected, so take it with a grain of salt).