Research and insights: Knowing instead of guessing

Most products do not fail because they were built badly. They fail because they were built for a problem that nobody really has.

Research and insights is about finding out who really matters for your product, in which context – and what they really need. Before the team falls in love with the first solution. And „who really matters” is rarely just the user – it is also the people who buy, evaluate, operate or approve your product. We help you to understand them. Hands-on, pragmatic and in days, not weeks.

Typical problems we see

Assumptions are treated as facts. „Our customers want …” is said with great confidence – but nobody can explain where this knowledge comes from.
Research confirms what everybody already knew. Interviews are conducted with a solution in mind, questions are suggestive, and the result is exactly what the team hoped for.
Only the user is asked. The team optimizes the experience for the end user, while the buyer, the IT department or procurement decides against the product for completely different reasons.
Research is outsourced – and gets lost. An agency delivers a thick report, which is presented once and then disappears in a folder. The team never talked to a single customer itself.
Research takes too long. By the time the results arrive, the decision has long been made.

Why research matters more than ever

With AI, building has become faster and cheaper than ever before. The expensive mistake is no longer building something wrong – it is building a lot of the wrong things very fast. At the same time, AI tempts teams to skip the uncomfortable part: Why talk to customers when a language model produces plausible answers in seconds? Because plausible is not the same as true. A model rarely knows about your target groups’ workarounds, internal politics or frustrations with your product last Tuesday. AI makes getting answers cheap. It does not make getting the right answers any easier. That is exactly what research is for.

Of course, we use AI in research ourselves – wherever it saves time: for desk research, drafting interview guides, transcribing, first clustering suggestions across dozens of transcripts and analyzing support tickets or reviews at scale. Synthetic users help to sharpen hypotheses before the first real conversation. But a synthetic answer is a hypothesis, not evidence. AI does not replace talking to real people – and the interpretation stays with the team.

How we support you

We help product teams to gain reliable insights into the needs of their target groups – with exactly as much effort as necessary for the next decision. No fixed framework, but exactly the tools that fit your situation:

All relevant target groups: Who is involved in using, buying, evaluating, operating and approving your product? And which of them are decisive for your goal?
Research question and hypotheses: We start with the question that really matters right now – „Why can’t we continue without answering it?” – and form hypotheses that we deliberately try to confirm AND disprove.
Qualitative interviews and observations: Past behavior and concrete stories instead of hypothetical questions, ideally combined with observations in the real context. With the sticky customer journey, we conduct and document interviews at once.
Synthesis: With clustering and the contrast method, we turn many individual conversations into a small number of clear patterns – needs, pain points and jobs-to-be-done („When …, I want to …, so that …”).
Surveys and existing data: Qualitative research shows why, quantitative research shows how many. Surveys check how widespread needs really are; usage data and support tickets often hold knowledge that is already there.
Opportunities: We translate insights into prioritized opportunities that fit your mandate – as the bridge to ideation.
Your team talks to its target groups itself: Insights experienced first-hand are worth more than any report.

How we work with you

Research embedded in your team: We plan the research together, take care of recruiting, conduct the first interviews side by side with your team and close with a synthesis workshop – first real insights from your target groups within days, not weeks.
Insight workshops with team and stakeholders: One focused workshop to turn existing interviews, data and opinions into shared patterns and prioritized opportunities.
Coaching for product managers, designers and researchers: We accompany your team while it runs its own research – from interview guide to synthesis – and give feedback where it matters.
Interim product leadership: We take over as product manager, head of product or CPO until the right person is on board – and make sure that decisions are based on insights rather than opinions in the meantime.

Also available as in-house training

Want your team to build these skills itself? Our „Research and insights” deep dive – derived from the Product Discovery Masterclass – is tailored to your team and works with your real challenges. Possible contents: research questions and hypotheses, identifying target groups beyond the user, qualitative interviews with interview guide and question technique, the sticky customer journey, synthesis of research results, quantitative surveys, jobs-to-be-done, opportunities and the use of AI in research – and its limits. In English or German, on-site at your company – e.g. in Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Frankfurt, Cologne, Vienna or Zurich – or remote.

Frequently asked questions

What is user research?

User research is the systematic investigation of the needs, behavior and context of the people a product is meant for – with methods such as interviews, observations, surveys and data analysis. The term is a bit misleading, though: Good user research does not only look at users, but at all relevant target groups – customers, buyers, influencers, admins, partners and internal stakeholders. The goal is not a report, but better product decisions.

Can't AI just simulate our customers?

Partly – and that is useful. Synthetic users and digital twins help to sharpen hypotheses, test interview guides and prepare conversations. But they know only what is already in their data. They rarely know your target groups’ real context, their workarounds or what annoyed them about your product last week. Synthetic answers are hypotheses, not evidence. In case of doubt: Use AI to prepare and synthesize research faster – and talk to real people anyway.

How many qualitative interviews do we need?

Fewer than most people think. With a focused research question, 8 to 10 qualitative interviews per relevant target group are usually enough to identify the central patterns. Much more important than the number: the right interview partners and questions about real past behavior instead of hypothetical opinions.

We have no time for research. What now?

Then research is probably more important than ever – because skipping it usually means guessing. But research does not have to take weeks. A clear research question, a handful of interviews within a few days and an AI-supported synthesis are often enough for the next decision. And if reliable evidence already exists, research can be skipped – deliberately, not by default.

The other areas of product discovery

Research and insights is one of four areas every product discovery has to cover. They are closely connected – insights from one area regularly change the others:

Product strategy and mandate – Why are we doing this – and what exactly should be achieved?
Ideation and evaluation – What is the best solution – not just the first one?
Experiments and validation – Does the solution actually create value?

All four areas at a glance: What we do · All four areas in one training: Product Discovery Masterclass

Get in touch

Do you want to know what your target groups really need – instead of guessing?