The key to good market research is taking the time to compile data and analyze it to find insights, which can be used for strategic decision-making. Yet, there are many ways to collect and analyze the data, and if you’re not mindful about it, you could experience a case of analysis paralysis. Sometimes also known as ‘overthinking,’ you or your team can get stuck over-scrutinizing available data or even overanalyzing how to collect the data due to the fear of making the wrong decision. However, analysis paralysis would only slow down your decision-making process and discourage you from experimenting and acquiring actual valuable insight.
Imagine you and your team are preparing the perfect brand strategy for your latest innovative product. The data gathered by your team and your own research have provided you with several buyer personas who would be your product’s key markets. In order to create the perfect branding, you try to accommodate the preferences of all of the different personas and endlessly reiterate to optimize every aspect of the strategy. As a result, your team is frustrated, and you lose valuable time that could’ve been used to test your branding and get valuable feedback. This is an example of poor performance due to analysis paralysis.
Especially when the stakes are high, analysis paralysis is a common phenomenon for brand owners. As someone who wants the brand to succeed, you might want to collect as much data and information as possible until you don’t realize it is excessive. Your result-oriented intention may lead to unproductive activities, such as meetings, that can create the illusion of forwarding momentum. Your desire for precision may shift valuable energy and attention towards minute details. Your ambition to be a market pioneer may have evolved into the fear of obsolescence (“what if my competitor comes up with a better idea if we miss an information they already have?”). In the end, you avoid making big decisions due to decision fatigue and fear of failure.
Overthinking kills creativity
Overthinking impedes your ability to reach your creative potential. A 2015 Stanford University research suggested this by scientifically measuring creativity using brain imaging. The research participants were asked to draw a series of pictures based on action words for 30 seconds each, and after that, they were asked to rank the difficulty of drawing these words. The drawings were also sent to design experts who judged their creativity. The brain imaging results showed that the less the participants thought about what they were drawing, the more creative their drawings were. In other words, the more they think about it, the more they mess it up.
When manifesting in a team, analysis paralysis can result in suboptimal performance and negatively impact team morale. One consequence would be a misallocation of valuable resources such as time and attention of your team members, which could be accompanied by a false perception of progress. For example, in the semblance of thoroughness, a team leader may continue to add items in the to-do list which are inconsequential, thus distracting the team from the big picture. Another consequence would be the frustration of team members who may think their creativity is being rejected or stifled. Constant reiteration in the pretext of optimization can be unconstructive and frustrating to creative team members. This frustration could result in lowered team morale, hence detaching team members from the project’s outcome.
How can you avoid paralysis analysis? Here are three essential tips that can help you avoid overthinking when doing market research.
1. Set clear objectives, scope (with limits!), deadline, assigned roles, and success criteria
Before doing your market research, make sure to set up a framework that defines the parameters for your market research process. With this kind of framework, you can prevent an open-ended and undefined process that would be prone to analysis paralysis. In addition, having a clear framework sets the right expectation for your market research. Spend some time, in the beginning, to be clear about the following key questions:
- What are the objectives of the market research?
- How will the insight from this research be used to influence the project?
- When is the deadline for this market research?
- How will the analysis be executed, and what tasks are required?
- Who is responsible for each task?
- What are the success criteria of this market research?
2. Be clear about your value proposition and validate it early
Good market research is crucial in building a successful product because you need to clearly understand what your product means to the market. However, good ideas alone won’t guarantee product success — that idea has to respond to real market needs. To build a market-ready value proposition, consider conducting at least two rounds of market research: one to understand the market and another to get feedback on your idea. As you get to know the market from the first round, ask yourself, what is your core value proposition, and to whom are you proposing these values?
Once you have a value proposition, validate it early by testing it to a sample of your key market segments to get their feedback. This second round of market research will reveal any flaws in your ideas and provide additional insight that you may have overlooked. During this early testing, savor any surprises that may arise and take advantage of them in building your next iteration. By validating your value proposition early on in product development, you can be clear with what your product is (and is not) and eliminate the need to go back and forth on your core value later on. In addition, when you are clear about what problem your product is trying to solve and which market segments you are targeting, it will be easier for you to set the right goals and expectations throughout the process.
3. Identify and analyze potential risks and create a risk mitigation plan
A key contributing factor to analysis paralysis is the fear of failure. So, instead of letting this fear debilitate your performance, create a plan on what to do should your plan doesn’t work out. This applies to the market research itself but also the rest of your business process. First, think and discuss with your team about the possible points where risks of failure may lurk, be it in shifting customer taste, the threat of competition, technical issues, problems with your business partners, and other possibilities. Once identified, develop a plan for how to mitigate each risk. With a proper risk mitigation plan, you would have gone through the possible points of failure and can manage the fear that would have hindered your decision-making process.
In conclusion, market research can be a powerful tool to understand your customers and strategize the value proposition of your products and services. Yet, when it is not adequately planned, you or your team can face analysis paralysis, which is when you can’t make any decision due to overthinking, overanalyzing, and fear of failure. To avoid it, set a clear framework to guide the market research process, be clear about your value proposition and validate it early, and prepare a risk mitigation plan to manage any potential points of failure.
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