Needs analysis for digital products: Identifying customer needs

If you are active in digital marketing, the question of your target audience's needs takes center stage. Sure, you have a product that you are convinced of. But is it true that everyone wants it? This is where the needs analysis comes into play, which can provide you with valuable insights before you launch your product.

Key Insights

• To gather feedback from at least 20 people to evaluate the quality and quantity of your product.
• To consider a broad target audience, including demographic characteristics such as age, religion, and origin.
• To ask open-ended questions that cannot be answered with just "yes" or "no".
• To encourage quick responses to keep customer surveys efficient and focused.
• To inquire about prices, competition, service, and features to expand the information base and make adjustments.

Step-by-Step Guide

Collecting Feedback

When starting to work on your needs analysis, you should select a handful of potential target audience members to get feedback on your product. Ideally, you should talk to at least 20 people to get a comprehensive picture. It's not enough to survey just two or three people; the feedback could be too one-sided.

Let them test your product and gather their opinions on quality and quantity. For example, ask if they find your product useful or how much of it they would use. For physical products like dog treats, you could also inquire about the typical amount a dog consumes.

Target Audience Analysis

We need to understand who our target audience exactly is. This includes demographic characteristics such as age, gender, origin, and in some cases, religion. To ensure that your product reaches the right target audience, think about which characteristics are relevant. An erroneous target audience analysis can lead to your product not achieving the desired success.

Also consider specific aspects that might be important for your product. Some industries, such as financial products, can be strongly influenced by cultural or religious beliefs.

Analysis Questions

Focus on formulating open-ended questions. Instead of directly asking if someone invests in stocks or not, it is much more helpful to find out what the person appreciates about stocks or what they generally think about the market. Open questions give you a deeper insight into the thoughts of your target audience.

Ensure that your questions are simple and clear. Complex, nested questions can confuse respondents and result in unusable responses.

Speed of Responses

Also, consider that the questions should be quick to answer. Avoid questions that lead to long deliberations. The simpler and more concise the answers are, the faster you can evaluate the information. This helps you make adjustments in a timely manner before taking the major step of launching.

Covering Important Aspects

In your interviews, make sure to cover at least four key aspects: price, comparable products, service, and features. For example, ask: "How much would you pay for this product?" or "Do you know a similar product, if yes, which one?" These are essential pieces of information that will help you better tailor your product.

Summary

To make an informed decision about your product, a thorough needs analysis is essential. By gathering feedback, understanding your target audience, and phrasing your questions correctly, you can ensure that your product is tailored to your customers' needs and that you are on the right path from the beginning.