A market research checklist before you launch a new product
Eight questions that must be answered before the first product sells — a concise checklist to validate demand without burning months of budget.
A great product idea in your head rarely survives contact with the market. Market research is not about a thick report — it is about making sure a few key questions get answered with evidence, not assumptions.
The 8-question checklist
- Who exactly is your first buyer? Not “everyone” — one profile you can describe in a single sentence.
- What problem do they pay to solve? If they already have an old way, yours must be clearly better at one thing they care about.
- How big is the market? Big enough for your revenue target, small enough to start focused.
- Who are the competitors, and why do customers choose them? If the answer is “there are no competitors”, the research almost certainly isn’t done yet.
- Where do potential buyers usually look for this solution? Marketplaces, social media, communities, or direct recommendations — this determines your first channel.
- What price feels fair to them? Test it against alternatives they already know, not against your production cost.
- What is the biggest risk that could kill this product? One answer — then find the cheapest way to test it this week.
- What are your go/no-go criteria? Decide before you start: which results mean continue, pivot, or stop.
How to use this checklist
Don’t answer from your chair. Every question has a cheap test: conversations with 10 potential buyers, a short survey, a pre-order page, or comparing competitor sales on marketplaces. The goal is not academic precision — just reducing the biggest uncertainty before serious money goes out.
The full version of this method — including per-stage worksheets and decision criteria — is in the Market Research Playbook. If your team doesn’t have the time to run it themselves, that is exactly the kind of work our Business Analysis covers.