AI is transforming how customer research gets done. Researchers increasingly use AI at every stage of the research workflow — from generating ideas and drafting research questions to analyzing and summarizing data. Experience research vendors are embedding AI throughout their platforms and introducing AI-supported methods, such as AI-moderated interviews and synthetic audiences. Amid all this innovation, one thing hasn’t changed: Good research still depends on thoughtful planning and sound methodology. AI can accelerate work but it won’t fix foundational research planning such as:

  • Jumping straight to research methods without first defining the questions research must answer.
  • Duplicating work by overlooking existing research.
  • Recruiting homogeneous samples, leading to experiences that exclude customers.
  • Leaving out stakeholders who must act on the findings.

Understanding customers is the foundation for creating successful products and services and improving customer experience. In the AI era, skipping research fundamentals only leads you to wrong decisions faster, with negative outcomes for both your customers and your business.

Use Forrester’s Customer Research Canvas For Effective Research

We developed the Customer Research Canvas — a one-page planning tool — to help research professionals and practitioners in various roles (e.g., design, product, marketing) execute better research. The research canvas helps you consider over 40 important questions in four categories, such as:

  • Why: What purpose will this research serve for the business priority it supports? What’s at risk if you skip this research?
  • What: What do you need to know by the end of this research? What research questions do you want to answer?
  • How: Which research methods will you use? Will you recruit humans, use synthetic audiences, or a combination of both?
  • Who: Which stakeholders need to be engaged and informed to act on your findings?

Read out latest report, The Winning Way To Plan Customer Research, to download a copy of the canvas that includes all the questions as well as instructions on how to use it. You can also customize the canvas according to your organization’s unique research needs before sharing with others in your organization to use, as well.

Let’s Connect

If you’re a Forrester client and  want to discuss how this tool can help you do more effective research, set up a conversation with us here. You can also connect with us (Gina and Senem) on LinkedIn if you’d like.