Research  is  Customer  Development  

wendy@assemble.is  

Kneebone.com    

•  B2B  SaaS  •  Marke@ng  Performance  Management  PlaDorm  

–  Industry  research  not  customer  research  

•  Patented  Algorithm  –  Product  focused,  not  customer  focused  

•  ROI  –  For  companies,  not  for  customers  

The  mistake:  customer  disconnect  

Corporate Community Customers

Industry, Product Research

“Buy our patented B2B SaaS”

“Deliver ROI”

“Simple way to do my job”

Research  is  relevance.  

Community of peers, influencers and advocates

Customer-led product dialogue

Customer Research

“No story in this data”

“Facts and feelings together”

“Share a story”

What  makes  research  an  asset?  

•  Relevance  –  Ready  customers  

•  Trac@on  –  Ready  to  convert    

 

Ready  Customers  

•  Studybucks  –  500  parents  surveyed  of  Children  6-­‐16    –  68%  have  children  with  math  challenges  –  44%  would  reward  kids  for  math  prac@ce  –  28%  signed  up  for  beta  

Personas  

•  Personas  provide  the  blue  print    –  A  way  to  show  relevance  and  build  a  community  –  A  way  to  model  trac@on  and  build  new  paths  to  customers  

Desperate Parent!

•  One or two parents work hard, white, pink, blue collar"•  Have more than one kid aged 8+"

•  HHI $100k+ "•  Urban suburban"•  35-54"•  Stretched with school and sports expenses"

•  Busy and Exhausted"•  Looking for adult time "•  Facebook, email"

Desperate Parent!

•  Kids safe and educated"•  Me time"

•  Expensive options for tutors"•  Too much homework supervision required"

•  Get math help for your child disguised as a gift card.. "

Desperate parents!

•  It’s just another expense. "

•  If I could teach my kid math, I would, but I can’t. "•  We don’t have time for tutors. "

Desperate Parent!

•  Math is one of those things that takes a lot of practice. If youi don’t want to nag your kid into submission, try a gift card. "

•  Now you can buy a gift card that makes math easy for you and your child. "

Research  is  Trac@on  

•  177  parent  clicks  to  the  website    •  63  visits  to  the  checkout  •  45  selected  an  item  

•  29  entered  their  personal  info  •  5  purchased    •  Acquisi@on  $70/5  =  $14  

Over Parent!

•  Owner/Manager"•  Family is business"

•  29-54"•  60k+"•  Urban Suburban"

•  Highly competitive"•  Organized "•  Text and voice"

[you type here]!

•  Success metrics"•  Stature"

•  Student compliance"•  Weak student"

•  Guaranteed Math practice for stubborn students. "

overparent!

•  Won’t pay kids to improve math skills. "•  Already paying a tutor. "

•  Homework is my childrent’s job. Good grades are their pay. "•  I put a lot of pressure on my children. They have to learn how to deal

with it. "

[you type here]!

•  Studybucks gives your child the edge they need to be a self directed learner. "

•  It exposes them to a pay for work paradigm""

•  Buy a studybucks gift card to test your childs math skills and teach them how to earn, save and propser. "

Auntie or Uncle!

•  Mid-level manager"•  No kids "•  Uses tech in work"

•  25-49"•  45k+"•  City/suburban"

•  Lots of screen time"•  MMS"•  Instagram"

Auntie or Uncle!

•  Be the cool uncle or aunt"•  Help out (a bit)"

•  Don’t really want to get involved"•  Have no time"

•  Let them substitute time with money"

[you type here]!

•  Concerned kid won’t follow through"

•  Kids are a lot of work.They never like anything I get them, it’s a waste of money."

Auntie and Uncle!

•  The perfect gift for the kid that has everything (except a fundamental understanding of math). "

•  Studybucks is the gift card I can relate to…it is guaranteed to convert to two things; math skills and shopping satisfaction. "

Studybucks.com  

Research  to  get  your    Creden@als  ready  

•  Market  Valida@on  –  Desk  Research  

•  Declining  Math  Scores  in  North  America  

•  Expert  Valida@on  –  Advisor  selec@on,  Network  and  Referral  

•  Jump  Math  Founder,  John  Mighton,  PhD  

•  Peer  Valida@on  –  Channel  partners  and  Affiliates  

•  Tutoring  Companies  

 Fini@a@ve  …  

•  Research  doesn’t  kill  ideas,  fear  and  laziness  does.    –  Any  research  is  befer  than  no  research    

•  How  many  people  have  you  talked  with?  •  What  did  you  learn?  •  What  will  you  change?  •  Did  you  follow  through?  (only  you  will  kill  your  idea)  

   

   

Every  day  is  a  research  day.    

•  Early  stage  research  is  the  way  to  build  your  creden@al  to  go  for  financing  or  go  to  market.  –  Research  IS  Customer  Strategy  

•  What  defines  the  customer  opportunity?  

–  Research  IS  Team  Strategy  •  What  is  the  winning  combina@on  of  subject  mafer  experts  and  opera@onal  excellence  for  customer  confidence?  

–  Research  IS  Product  Strategy  •  What  is  the  simple  and  effec@ve  customer  experience?  

–  Research  IS  Compe@@ve  Strategy  •  How  do  you  own  and  sustain  customer  relevance?  

Become  an  expert  at  Bad  Research.  

•  Ambiguity:    –  If  it’s  not  yes  it  has  to  be  no    

•  Bias:  –  Use  Persona  filters,  not  your  own.    

Ask  Good  ques@ons.  Get  Good  creden@als.      

•  Provoca@ve  research  is  good  research:  –  has  a  focus,    –  is  memorable,    –  and  will  build  an  asset  

Become  an  expert  at  good  research.    

•  Would  I  give  me  money  for  this?    –  Good  research  needs  to  demonstrate  that  you  are  focused  on  delivering  a  viable  business,  not  just  valida@ng  your  idea  

–  Even  if  you  plan  on  bootstrapping  and  using  non-­‐dilu@ve  financing,  you  need  to  build  the  discipline  of  asking  good  ques@ons  

•  Fail  faster  •  Succeed  with  Insight  

Create  an  asset  

•  Own  the  research    •  Own  the  customer  insight  •  Own  the  market  opportunity  

Show  Fini@a@ve  

•  Early  stage:  –  Interviews:  3  per  week  

•  1  on  1  conversa@ons,  paired  interviews,  focus  groups    •  Be  able  to  name  names  or  @tles  •  Result:  Persona  development  

–  Desk  Research:  3  hours  per  week  •  Customer  for  innova@on  (thought  leaders  and  community  of  interest  and  engagement)  

•  Are  they  ready  (execu@ve  sponsor,  influencers,  users)  •  What  are  they  buying  now  (value  prop/compe@@on)  

The  next  stage  

•  Aper  you  have  done  your  founda@on  studies  Research  is  – Market  Valida@on  –  Adver@sing  and  Promo@on  –  Performance  Management  

Every  day  is  a  research  day.  

•  Everything  you  do  is  research.  •  All  research  is  promo@on.    

•  Research  is  a  way  you  tell  people  that  you  are  serious.    •  Research  is  a  way  to  demonstrate  your  creden@als  •  Research  is  a  way  to  prove  that  you  are  coachable.