| name | customer-research |
| description | Use when the user asks to "understand customers", "customer research", "user personas", "customer needs analysis", "buyer journey mapping", "voice of customer", "customer segmentation", "user research", or needs guidance on customer-discovery methodologies, persona development, or buyer behavior. |
| version | 0.4.2 |
Customer Research
Systematically gather insights about target users to inform product and market decisions — needs, behaviors, and preferences.
Required Frameworks
| Framework | Output Section | Required |
|---|
| Persona Development | Customer Personas | yes |
| Jobs-to-be-Done | JTBD Analysis | yes |
| Journey Mapping | Customer Journey | yes |
| Segmentation & Prioritization | Customer Segments | yes |
Research Types
- Quantitative — surveys, usage analytics, A/B results, market-share data, NPS/satisfaction.
- Qualitative — interviews, focus groups, observation, support-ticket analysis, review mining (G2, Capterra, TrustRadius, app stores, Reddit, social, forums). Look for repeated complaints, feature requests, competitor comparisons, use cases, and emotional language.
Persona Development
Capture demographics (role, industry, company size, location), psychographics (goals, pain points, decision style, information sources, tech comfort), and behaviors (current solutions, buying process, triggers, evaluation criteria).
## [Persona Name]
### Profile [role, company size/industry, experience]
### Goals [primary, secondary, tertiary]
### Pain Points [major → minor]
### Quote ["representative statement"]
### Buying Behavior [trigger, research, decision influence, timeline]
### Preferred Channels
Jobs-to-be-Done
Focus on what customers are trying to accomplish across functional jobs (core task, measurable outcome), emotional jobs (how they want to feel, social perception), and related jobs (before/after the core job).
Statement format: "When [situation], I want to [motivation], so I can [expected outcome]."
Customer Journey
Stages: Awareness → Consideration → Decision → Purchase → Onboarding → Retention/Advocacy. Map each in a table:
| Stage | Actions | Thoughts | Emotions | Pain Points | Opportunities |
|---|
When the journey is shown as a figure rather than the stage table above, render it as a
Mermaid timeline (or journey). Any figure, chart, or diagram is rendered as a fenced
Mermaid code block (a mermaid info-string fence), never ASCII art, an image link, or
Graphviz/DOT; a required figure is never silently omitted — if the data cannot support
it, say so in prose. Plain tabular matter stays a Markdown table.
Segmentation
Criteria: demographic (size, industry, role), behavioral (usage, buying frequency), needs-based (problem severity, sophistication), value-based (revenue potential, strategic fit). Prioritize:
| Segment | Size | Need Intensity | Accessibility | Competition | Priority |
|---|
| [Name] | S/M/L | H/M/L | H/M/L | H/M/L | 1-5 |
Output Structure
## Customer Research Summary
### Key Segments [description, size]
### Personas
### Jobs-to-be-Done
### Journey Insights [awareness / consideration / decision]
### Pain Points (Ranked)
### Opportunities [unmet needs]
### Trend Indicators [sophistication / willingness-to-pay / switching: INC/DEC/CONST]
Mandatory Output Rules
- Every persona includes name, role, company size, key pain points, buying triggers.
- Every segment includes a size estimate, growth direction (INC/DEC/CONST), and confidence level.
- All claims cite specific sources.
- NEVER use placeholder values (
$X, TBD, [insert]).
- Identify at least 3 customer segments.
- Record open questions and unknowns as explicit gaps in the findings.
Trend Indicators (INC / DEC / CONST)
Apply to customer-behavior metrics: customer sophistication, willingness to pay, and switching propensity. INC = rising, DEC = falling, CONST = stable.
Confidence Tiers
High = multiple customer data sources (surveys, reviews, interviews) align. Medium = 2 sources or strong proxy indicators. Low = single source or inferred from adjacent markets. Cross-reference competitive (feature gaps → unmet needs) and financial (willingness to pay, price sensitivity). Alert on an unmet need with no existing solution, a newly discovered segment, or a switching-cost barrier that invalidates competitive assumptions.
Best Practices
Talk to actual customers (including churned and non-customers), distinguish stated vs. revealed preferences, quantify qualitative insights where possible, and refresh regularly as behaviors change.
