← AI for Small Business
Lesson 3

Market Research in Minutes

Large companies spend thousands on market research. You can get 80% of the value in 20 minutes with AI. Here's how to understand your customers, your competitors, and your market without a research team.

The Customer Persona Interview

The best product and marketing decisions come from understanding who you're serving. Ask AI to interview you:

Act as a market research expert. Ask me 5 questions about my customers to help me build a detailed customer persona. After my answers, synthesize them into a written persona profile.

This is like having a consultant in the room. Answer the questions honestly and you'll end up with a persona that makes every future business decision easier.

Competitive Analysis Without the Spreadsheet

I run a [type of business] in [location/market]. Who are the typical competitors in this space? For each, describe: their likely positioning, strengths, weaknesses, and what customers who choose them value most. Then: what gap do they leave open that I could own?

You get a competitive landscape overview that would normally require hours of research.

The "Why Do Customers Leave?" Analysis

Customer churn is almost always predictable. Ask AI to help you think through it:

I sell [product/service]. What are the top 5 reasons customers in this category typically stop buying or switch to a competitor? For each reason, suggest one thing I could do to reduce that churn.

Retention is cheaper than acquisition. This exercise often reveals fixes you didn't know you needed.

Pricing Research

Help me think through pricing for [product/service]. My costs are approximately $[X]. My target customer is [description]. What pricing models exist in this space, what do competitors typically charge, and what's the psychology of price perception for this type of product?

Practice

Exercise 1

Describe your ideal customer in as much detail as you can — not demographics, but psychographics. What do they worry about? What do they want to feel? What does a win look like for them?

💡 Think about your best current customers. What do they have in common beyond age and income? What problem were they trying to solve when they found you?
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