Analyzing Customer for new product
Are you one of the entrepreneur who has developed or in the process of developing product without assessing market needs. Recently i came across an entrepreneur who is developed a product targeted at children aged between 5-12years and without doing any marketing study and customer analysis. This kind of entrepreneur can be classified as gutsy or fool 
Customer Analysis is one of the critical component of an MRD (Market Requirement document), it assesses the customer segments that the company plans to serve
Things to do by company before working on the product -
1) identifying the target customers,
2) List the needs of these customers, and
3) highlight how this product can satisfy the needs of target customers.
First and foremost step in Customer Analysis is precise definition of customers the company plans to serve, Its not enough to say the company is targeting small businesses, for example, because there are several million of these types of customers.
The next step after identifying target customers is to explain the demographics of these customers. Bring forth questions and search for answers and Questions are – 1) how many potential customers fit the given definition? is this customer base growing or decreasing? 2) what is the average revenues/income of these customers? and 3) where are these customers geographically based?
The next step in the business plan is to detail out the drivers of customer decision making. Sample Questions are: 1) Do customers find price to be more important than the quality of the product or service? and 2) are customers looking for the highest level of reliability?
It is essential to truly understand customers to develop a successful business and marketing strategy. By spending the time to research and analyze your target customers, you will develop both enhance your business strategy and funding success.
-Hitesh, vcBytes.com
