Understanding your customers is critical for building successful products that solve real problems for real people. Buyer behavior studies allow product managers to gain key insights into how and why customers make purchasing decisions. By diving deep into the motivations, thought processes, and behaviors of your target customer base, you can design products that truly delight them.
In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about planning and conducting buyer behavior studies, including:
- Why buyer studies are invaluable for product managers
- Types of buyer behavior studies
- How to develop research plans
- Best practices for conducting studies
- Tips for analyzing and applying findings
- Common pitfalls to avoid
Arm yourself with buyer insights that inform strategic product decisions by learning how to run impactful buyer behavior studies.
Why Buyer Behavior Studies Matter
In the fast-paced world of product management, it can be tempting to rely on assumptions or guesswork when making decisions about your products. However, assumptions often prove wrong and guesses rarely hit the mark. Without proper buyer research, you risk building products that customers don’t actually want.
Buyer studies illuminate how real customers behave, providing concrete insights you can use to:
Validate product ideas
Is that new feature actually useful or something no one will care about? Buyer research reveals what resonates with customers so you can align priorities to needs.
Optimize user experiences
Understanding subtleties like where customers get stuck or confused allows you to refine UX for seamless interactions.
Influence design decisions
Details often make the difference between good products and great ones. Buyer insights guide aesthetics, layouts, flows and more.
Improve positioning
How you describe and showcase products also impacts success. Buyer studies help you identify the right messaging and selling points.
Boost marketing campaigns
Knowing customer triggers, motivations and values allows you to craft compelling, relevant marketing.
In essence, buyer behavior research reduces risk and uncertainty by bringing the voice of the customer directly into strategic product decisions. Rather than wasting resources on solutions no one wants, you can innovatively solve the right problems.
Over-reliance on hunches is one of the biggest downfalls for product managers. But combining instincts with in-depth buyer insights sets you up for success.
Types of Buyer Behavior Studies
Many methods exist for studying customers and buyers. Common approaches fall into two main buckets:
Qualitative studies
These explore the “why” behind behaviors through open-ended questions. Smaller sample sizes reveal deeper psychological and social phenomena influencing customers.
Quantitative studies
These measure behaviors, attitudes and metrics statistically through closed-ended questions. Larger sample sizes uncover broader patterns.
While studies typically focus on either qualitative or quantitative research, mixing methods can provide very powerful insights.
Here are some of the most popular types of buyer studies product managers rely on:
1. User interviews
In-depth interviews with one user at a time help uncover needs, pain points and detailed experiences. Open-ended questions provoke responses you may not anticipate but provide meaning behind behaviors.
Best for: understanding emotional connections and relationships with products.
2. Focus groups
Moderated discussions with small groups explore topics deeply through back-and-forth conversation. Group dynamics reveal social influences and norms.
Best for: diving into controversial topics and garnering reactions.
3. Ethnographic research
Observing behavior in real environments without direct engagement spotlights unarticulated needs and workarounds. Site visits, fly-on-the-wall observation and diary studies capture authentic experiences.
Best for: revealing unmet needs and subconscious behaviors.
4. User surveys
Questionnaires collect responses from many people quickly. Closed-ended questions produce quantitative data on behaviors, attitudes, preferences and satisfaction.
Best for: gathering wide-ranging feedback from many respondents.
5. Customer analytics
Product usage data, CRM data, web analytics and other metrics demonstrate what customers do. Analyzing behavioral trends offers concrete direction.
Best for: understanding funnel drop-off points, feature usage, purchase predictors and more.
6. Usability studies
Watching customers use products highlights pain points and confusion while users complete tasks and scenarios. Post-session interviews add context.
Best for: testing and refining UX/UI before product launch.
7. A/B testing
Trying variations of products, messaging or features with different groups reveals what resonates best by measuring engagement, conversions and other actions.
Best for: optimizing conversions and engagement with existing customers.
One study won’t definitively identify all buyer needs or behaviors. Mixing quantitative and qualitative methods based on project goals paints a complete picture.
How to Plan Your Buyer Research
Great buyer behavior studies don’t happen by accident. Thoughtfully planned and executed research leads to high-quality insights you can count on as a product manager.
Follow these steps when planning your research initiatives:
Define key questions
Start by identifying the top things you need to know to reduce the most risk and uncertainty around product decisions. What info would help you most right now? Prioritize the biggest gaps.
For example:
- What frustrations drive customers to search for solutions like ours?
- When does our target persona tend to enter the buying cycle?
- How do initial perceptions of our brand influence purchase interest?
Choose methodology
Match research methods to the type of question and data needed. Interviews spot frustrations. Analytics patterns buying cycles. Surveys clarify perceptions.
Consider mixing qualitative and quantitative approaches to develop a multidimensional understanding.
Develop a sampling plan
No need to research your whole market; smaller samples reveal broader trends if chosen wisely. Define total and segment sample sizes, screening criteria and sourcing plans.
Ensure your sample represents the personas and segments you want to influence while meeting method requirements. For example, surveys may require 100 responses per segment for significant results while in-depth interviews typically need at least 6.
Create research guides
Draft discussion guides for qualitative interviews/focus groups or questionnaires for surveys based directly on your research questions. Refine tools iteratively with stakeholder input before fielding. Remove ambiguity, bias and assumption-leading language.
Set the timeline
Factor adequate time for participant recruitment, conducting research sessions, professional transcription if needed, analyzing data and synthesizing key takeaways. Complex studies often require at least 2 months.
Secure resources
Determine roles, budget and tools like participant incentives, transcription services, survey software, database access and more. Leverage capabilities across internal teams like insights, UX and marketing or external specialists.
Following a structured research planning process sets your studies up for actionable results.
Best Practices for Conducting Buyer Research
Carefully managed research processes also ensure credible, reliable data collection free from bias, fake responses or confusion. Steer clear of bad data by adhering to the following field research best practices:
Get clean reads
Confirm recruited participants match screening criteria for target segments before scheduling them. Re-screen right before research activities when possible.
Set clear expectations
Brief participants on study purpose, voluntary participation, anonymity and use of data/recordings to obtain informed consent. Disclose session length, topics and activities so they know what to expect.
Make respondents comfortable
Meet on their turf when feasible or in neutral, easily accessed locations. Ensure private, quiet spaces without distractions from colleagues or managers. Provide food/beverages and accommodate needs proactively.
Master moderating skills
Both new and experienced researchers benefit from moderating training to learn how to remain neutral, ask non-leading questions, transition smoothly, probe responses and actively listen.
Practice runs are invaluable for rehearsing guides with external users to refine questions, flow, timing and terminology.
Account for external factors
During fielding, monitor environmental issues, moderator variables, participant attentiveness and other influences that could sway responses. Report limitations transparently.
Record responses accurately
Capture all participant input through transcripts, audio recordings, notes, photos/videos if consent allows. Professional transcription ensures no critical details get lost.
Gather meaningful metadata
Note situational details, non-verbal behaviors, body language and intangibles that add essential context to quotes and coding themes later on.
Following sound data collection protocols results in credible insights. Sloppy procedures undermine research value through unreliable or non-representative findings.
Analyzing Findings from Buyer Research
Raw qualitative data like interview transcripts or quantitative data from surveys doesn’t provide clear direction yet. Analyzing results involves filtering and distilling mounds of feedback down to key meaningful patterns.
Here’s a step-by-step process for making sense of buyer research:
1. Immerse yourself in the data
Digest transcripts, listen to audio, review observational notes closely before jumping to conclusions. Let themes emerge naturally at first.
2. Code and categorize
Tag meaningful chunks of content with related codes describing behaviors, attitudes or topics. Group codes into categories or themes identifying patterns. Use qualitative analysis or tabulation software to help if needed.
3. Connect insights to questions
Align categorized data with original research questions, indicating where gaps exist. Visualize using affinity diagrams.
4. Identify user priorities
Look at frequency of mentions or levels of emotion/enthusiasm associated with certain feedback. What do users talk about most passionately? Note must-have vs. nice-to-have elements.
5. Find consensus and conflicts
Highlight majority views along with interesting outliers and dissenting perspectives. Diverging needs warrant further investigation.
6. Put insights into context
Consider findings against market trends, competitive offerings, segment nuances and previous research to determine what confirms or contradicts other inputs.
7. Document key takeaways
Synthesize conclusions, user priorities, pain points, quotes and examples into a insights report or presentation to share with stakeholders. Focus on the most critical 5-7 action-oriented findings.
Proper analysis transforms disjointed qualitative feedback and statistics into compelling insights that influence executives and product teams.
Subscribe for free:
Applying Buyer Research Learnings
The true measure of research value means applying insights to improve products, positioning and promotions. Unfortunately, a disconnect often exists between those conducting studies and those acting on the results.
Build a culture focused on customer understanding by:
Socializing findings early
Don’t wait for fancy reports. Share real quotes, photos and initial conclusions immediately to spark ideas before cementing plans. Steer conversations using insights.
Exploring use case ideas
Host interactive sessions to explore potential product enhancements, messaging angles and feature concepts grounded in study findings. Expand on what customers pointed to needing.
Being insight-driven
Reference the supporting research during strategy, design and go-to-market discussions. Stakeholders should know the “why” behind priorities backed by user inputs.
Tying decisions to data
Challenge assumptions and shifts in direction by asking “what evidence supports this?” to ensure user data guides choices at every level.
Making insights accessible
Digest findings into memorable snippets. Post themes/quotes around the office. Quick references keep customers top of mind in daily dialogues.
Ongoing learning discipline
View buyer research as an iterative activity, not a one-off project. Continually probe feedback to monitor needs and gaps.
Insight-inspired products and services resonate stronger thanks to this external orientation and user focus based on buyer behavior learnings.
Common Buyer Research Pitfalls to Avoid
As buyer studies inform high-stakes product decisions, dodging common missteps proves critical. Be mindful of these areas ripe for error:
Asking leading questions
Poorly phrased or biased questions suggest expected responses, contaminating data. Test questions externally to eliminate leading language before deploying guides.
Rushing the process
Giving short shrift to planning, preparation and analysis underestimates resource needs, limiting reliable results. Set aside adequate time.
Discounting emotional insights
It’s tempting to primarily value rational feedback you agree with, but emotions often most profoundly drive decisions and loyalty. Watch for feelings.
Focusing on what’s easy to solve
Understanding customer struggles doesn’t always translate to solutions if the problems seem too challenging to address. Don’t avoid tougher insights.
Having unrealistic expectations
Buyer research reduces uncertainty but can’t eliminate unknowns, conflicts or guesses. Embrace messier qualitative insights.
Sharing reports alone
Don’t expect stakeholders to automatically apply buyer findings without interactive discussions and co-creation opportunities.
Stopping after launch
Keep researching customers to ensure products adapt to evolving needs over time through sustained learning initiatives.
Avoid knee-jerk reactions to invalid data or limited insights by proactively addressing research limitations and potential biases.
Overcoming Buyer Research Obstacles
Despite best intentions, buyer behavior studies don’t always go smoothly. From participant recruitment struggles to stakeholders ignoring findings, challenges arise. Arm yourself to overcome research obstacles using these tactics:
Issue: Low survey response rates
Solutions: Send follow-up reminders, extend timelines, offer incentives
Issue: Interviews reveal limited insights
Solutions: Probe deeper with spontaneous follow-up questions
Issue: Teams won’t act on buyer findings
Solutions: Involve key stakeholders earlier and co-create solutions together
Issue: Minimal budget for in-depth research
Solutions: Start small with a few fast focus groups or interviews
Issue: No customer research expertise on staff
Solutions: Get smart quick through online training or hire specialists
Issue: Leadership focuses on hi-level metrics
Solutions: Connect insights to strategic growth and innovation goals
With some savvy troubleshooting, you can adapt approaches to gather meaningful buyer insights despite hurdles.
Which Buyer Studies Should You Start With?
While extensive buyer research helps teams deeply attune to customers, product managers juggle packed calendars with little time for lengthy studies. Balance being insight-driven with other priorities by choosing one or two approaches to begin buyer behavior exploration:
My Recommendations:
1. Quick-hit focus groups
Recruit 6-8 aligned customers for a 90-minute virtual group discussion on their buying experiences, pain points and wishes. Fast way to spot themes.
2. Analytics analysis
Gather key metrics from web, UX and marketing teams to identify behavioral trends, conversion drop-offs and micro-segments. Reverse engineer experiences.
3. Guerilla user interviews
Interview 5 targeted customers informally wherever convenient for 20-30 mins instead of full 60-90 minute sit-downs. Uncover surface-level pains and needs faster.
4. Hybrid surveys
Ask mostly quantitative questions for data significance but end with 2-3 open-ended ones capturing “why” behind responses qualitatively. Illuminate meanings.
5. Research re-reads
Review existing secondary studies, competitive intel and past research for clues before launching new primary studies. Spot blindspots.
Choose the techniques offering the fastest insights tied closest to your biggest questions and uncertainties right now. Then layer on additional approaches over time, combining buyer understanding with your product instincts for solutions customers love.
Conclusion & Next Steps
Gathering buyer behavior insights directly from the source—your customers—pays dividends through products that solve real problems and marketing that clicks with audiences. But overly relying on assumptions instead of actual evidence leads teams astray, wasting resources.
Commit to an insight-driven approach to product management by:
- Making buyer studies a regular discipline, not a one-off project
- Testing ideas directly with customers early and often
- Analyzing research together with stakeholders
- Grounding decisions in findings
- Continually learning more about your users
Arm yourself with actionable customer insights that focus product and company priorities on what matters most to buyers through regular behavior studies. Reduce risk and boost customer-centric thinking by planning your first buyer research initiative this quarter using the templates and guidance included in this guide.
