Tools for Research Support
We apply well-proven Research Tools in the Discover Phase to shed light into the innovation space as well as in the Validate Phase to Explore Open Questions or Validate Hypotheses. Go through our list and get inspired to design your own research setting.
1. Research Tools for Discover Phase
We like to use the following tools to discover the innovation space in Business Design projects:
Tool | Comment | Cost |
Interviews with customers and users are a great tool for finding "golden nuggets". But only the right interview technique allows us to look under the hood and reveal things customers were not aware of before. | Low | |
Whenever the scope of your project allows to observe your customers and users in situations relevant to you, you should definitely do it. It' a great chance to identify behavioral patterns and corresponding emotions that would not come out in an interview. | Medium | |
"DIY" (= Do it yourself) means that we change the perspectives and ask the team members to put themselves in the same situation as customers. Did some of your team members never ever use your current product or service or the ones of your main competitors? The Discover Phase is the right time to do it! | Medium | |
Diary | Any addition to a single conversation - e.g. a diary study or report plus a second interview afterwards - helps you to build trust and get to know your customers and users even better. But this needs some time obviously. | Medium |
Desk research | Simple desk research is in many cases a good starting point to gather information about your current business model, the competitive landscape, market structure & dynamics, technological capabilities, rules & regulations. Desk research can even be the right method to understand customers from another perspective: Go to social media groups, chat forums or blogs and analyse comments from your potential customers / users or have a look at existing data about the behavior of your clients (e.g. from your CRM system or any installed tracking technology). | Low - high |
Discussion with colleagues / experts | Discussions with colleagues or experts help you to better understand today's business model, internal practices & processes, data and resources as well as rules & regulations. And again it can help you to understand your customers & users: Talk e.g. to your sales and support team about common complaints or requests from your clients. | Low |
2. Research Tools for Validate Phase
We like to use the following tools to explore and validate our business model in Business Design projects:
Tool | Comment | Level of reality / evidence | Costs |
Carry out customer interviews about a prototype in order to test your product or service ideas in an open dialogue with customers / users. | Low | Low | |
Thinking aloud | As soon as you have developed a prototype for your product or service get your future users to test it and ask them to comment aloud while using your product or service. This will give you valuable insights into how it is perceived and is it is easy to use. | Low | Low |
Discussion with experts | Experts can help you test critical assumptions about your business model. You should always consult experts if you cannot collect the necessary information efficiently yourself – although it is important to remember, of course, that experts can “only” provide you with their own opinion based on individual experiences. | Low | Low |
Surveys can help you test critical assumptions about your product, service and business model with a high number of participants. | Low | Medium | |
Profit and loss accounts can help you at a downstream stage of idea development, if you are unsure about the feasibility or profitability of your business model. Be aware, however, that your calculations are based on assumptions which you still need to test in reality. | Low | Low | |
With a landing page, you can test how well your business idea and sales story will play on the market before officially launching them. You can collect contact details for people who are interested in your idea (e.g. notify me on launch). | Medium | Low | |
(Online) ads or other promotional campaigns help you to test the likely success (= conversion) of selected marketing channels as well as corresponding sales messages. | Medium | Low | |
A / B test | A/B tests help you find answers to unanswered questions in order to fine-tune your product or service or your marketing and sales activities. When carrying out A/B tests, make sure you are not comparing two completely different things but two slightly different variants of your product, service or process. | Medium | Medium |
Functional prototype | Functional prototypes (of your product or software) are useful when you are unsure about the technical feasibility of certain elements of your product. Using the prototype, you can test the elements you are unsure about in isolation without having to invest in comprehensive development first. | Medium | Medium / high |
Role play | Role plays help you simulate processes / services and test critical assumptions about your business model which are based on the feasibility of certain processes. | Medium | Low |
(Closed) Trial | A trial usage test with a selected group of customers allows you to get feedback from potential customers and users after using your product or service in real life for a certain timeframe. Participation is the first indicator if they are interested. Test reports, subsequent interviews or testimonials give you even more insights. | Medium | Medium / high |
The use of tracking tools allows you to gather insights about user's behavior and corresponding conditions from a high amount of participants automatically without influencing them with your presence. | Medium | Medium | |
Pre-sales | Pre-selling allows you to earn money before actually delivering your product or service. Crowdfunding platforms (like Kickstarter) are typical channels to collect orders before launch. But you can also pitch your offering and collect deposits manually. | High | Medium / high |
The lean offerings are your first products or services on the market with a minimum set of features. You charge your customer to allow as much reality as possible. It doesn't mean everything must be ready. You can still e.g. provide your service in a manual way behind the scenes. | High | Medium / high |