HKSM

A market study is a structured investigation that gathers, organizes, and analyzes information about customer preferences for products or services. It typically includes detailed insights on market trends, customer segmentation, and marketing activities.

Key Points

• Purpose: reduce uncertainty by understanding customer needs and demand to guide product strategy and backlog priorities.
• Scope: examines preferences, market size and trends, segments, channels, and pricing sensitivity.
• Methods: uses primary (surveys, interviews, experiments) and secondary (reports, databases) research with both qualitative and quantitative data.
• Outputs: personas and segment profiles, trend insights, forecasts, and recommendations that inform MVP scope and go/no-go decisions.

Example

An agile team planning a new mobile budgeting app conducts a market study using user surveys, app store review mining, and analyst reports. They identify key segments (students, gig workers), prioritize features (recurring expense alerts, bank sync), and set an MVP that targets the largest pain points while shaping the release roadmap.

PMP Example Question

During project initiation, the product owner asks the team to analyze customer preferences, segment potential users, and review industry trends to inform MVP scope. What activity is the team performing?

1. Competitive analysis
2. Market study
3. Voice of the Customer workshop
4. Marketing campaign planning

Correct Answer: B — market study

Explanation: A market study is the systematic collection, organization, and analysis of data on customer preferences, market trends, and segments to guide product decisions. The other options address narrower or different objectives.