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How To Conduct Research On Shopify App Store For Your Shopify App

April 02, 2020 | 07 min read

1. QuickRead

“Find a major problem that’s only going to become worse, and fix it,” is the mantra while developing an app. When you are dealing with a problem of that magnitude, audience research is critical. Because there are so many various methods to solving a major problem and expanding your product, it is crucial to conduct your research before deciding on one.
It is all too tempting for software developers to get carried away with creating products based on their own experiences and ideas. That is why it is critical to stay in touch with your consumers, whether they are merchants who use your app directly or agencies that use it on their clients’ behalf.
In this article, we will look at:
  • How the market research you need to undertake changes as your app develops.
  • The most efficient methods for carrying out the study.
  • And how to put it into action in a road map that works.

2. Why Bother With Research?

It is critical to understand what motivates people in order to solve those challenges. The things that individuals are most enthusiastic about are frequently the ones that they are most worried about.
You may validate your thoughts while generating solutions for your consumers by finding out what they are passionate about. Find out what your target audience is thinking about. What keeps businesspeople up at night? What is preventing them from boosting their revenue? What are the areas where they are losing efficiency? Only by knowing the answers to those questions will you be able to determine whether or not your product will provide them with a true solution.

3. How Does Research Change Over Time?

Identifying issues and concerns at a high level throughout the early phases of development can help you create your product so that it genuinely solves the overall challenges that merchants experience. Keep those merchant challenges in mind as your north star. If a feature does not address it, do not put time or effort into it—even if your rivals do.
However, as your app develops, so should your research. While your north star should remain constant (until industry or consumer feedback tells you differently! ), the issues you want to address should grow increasingly specific.
Rather than focusing just on business problems, begin exploring operational difficulties that your stakeholders are experiencing. Is a lack of APIs, for example, hurting efficiency? Is a lack of documentation making it difficult to implement new features? Is there an over-reliance on a developer for customization?
Narrowing your emphasis to handle day-to-day concerns will enhance the longevity of your consumers, especially if they perceive you evolving in response to their requirements.

4. How to Go About Getting the Answers

There are several approaches to conducting research, but knowing where to begin can be difficult. You must consider not only who to speak with, but also how to ask the appropriate questions and how to gather the answers. The following are five aspects of market research to keep in mind.

4.1 Speak To People In Every Part Of Your Target Customers’ Business

If you want to validate an idea or find the next problem to solve, look at the most pressing issues that your target customer is facing—ideally, issues that they are willing to pay to solve.
When conducting this type of research, many people make the mistake of assuming that only one person per company can assist you in identifying these issues. In reality, there are a number of contributors who could each bring up a unique set of experiences.
In the early stages of your research, you will want to focus on the business’s decision makers so you can learn about their strategy and what success looks like for them. When you are gaining a general understanding of a merchant’s requirements, this method works well. User testing, such as a contextual inquiry, can be used to accomplish this.
When it comes to the challenges of execution, however, you will need to speak with the person who is actually doing it, whether it is the marketer who is using your app or the developer who is assisting them in customizing it. Make sure you get direct feedback from those who are logging into and using your product on a daily basis when you start digging into the operational challenges.

4.2 Don’t Miss Out On The Middlemen

Merchants maybe your product’s ultimate customers, but agencies are the ones that suggest, implement, and integrate our platforms for many of us. They may repeat this process for other clients. As a result, they are one of the most valuable sources of feedback.
Interview account managers and developers to find out what problems they are trying to solve when it comes to bringing clients onto your platform. At the same time, find out what problems they face on a regular basis and what would make their lives simpler.

4.3 Keep Things Focused

It is been said that Rome was not built in a day, and the same can be said about any Shopify app. This implies that if you open the floodgates too wide, you could wind up with more information than you can handle.
Put your ear to the ground and use your existing consumer feedback to figure out where to start before you get started. You may then create specialized questions for your user surveys that will get more useful responses.
Start your survey with a handful of open-ended questions to start things rolling. However, proceed to smaller questions with a restricted amount of replies to keep things focused and to guarantee you receive the exact answers you are looking for. This will make it faster and easier for your responders, as well as help you in converting the input into actionable results.
A narrow-focused inquiry may look like this:

4.4 Make It As Easy As Possible

Although this may appear to be a no-brainer, you would be shocked by how many complicated feedback forms are floating around out there. Making it as simple as possible for individuals to respond to your survey will have a significant influence on the number of responses you receive.
Typeform is a straightforward method to create appealing and easy-to-use forms and surveys, which is why we suggest it for gathering replies. Find a means to collect all of your feedback in one location, whether you use Typeform, Survey Monkey, Google Forms, or another service.
Also, do not be scared to reach out personally. If you are not getting a response from someone but see that they are on Slack, send them a message and ask if they can offer you feedback directly.
Even better, if you have the resources, enlist the help of someone to collect feedback from merchants and agencies via phone calls. People love to talk and are much more likely to open up on the phone, so we can not recommend this highly enough. Keep your phone calls short and sweet—no more than 15 minutes at a time.
Making it as simple as possible for your audience to respond to your questions will result in more useful feedback that will help you make better decisions.

4.5 Don’t Forget To Say Thank You

After you have finished your research, make sure to stay in touch with everyone who participated. Thank them for their input, and keep them updated on your progress once you have figured out what you are going to do with it. After you have incorporated their suggestions, you might want to ask them for more—people will be considerably more willing to assist you if you have already shown your gratitude.

5. How To Apply Your Research

By this stage, you have worked out your questions, questioned your participants, and ideally get some useful input that will impact the growth and development of your app. But how can you go through all of that information and convert it into a concrete plan of action?

5.1 Identify common themes

In our experience, while doing audience research, there is generally a common thread that runs across the replies. The problem is figuring out what it is. Whether you use a more conventional print and post-it method or export all of your replies into a spreadsheet and apply sophisticated filtering, you should be able to combine comments that relate to particular topics.
By counting the number of answers that fall into each category, you will have a solid understanding of which parts of feedback are the most common and which are the most important, allowing you to prioritize and create a realistic road map.
However, be cautious not to act just on the issues that receive the most attention. Finding unifying themes that strike a balance between significance and urgency is difficult. Make sure to note all of the themes you see in order to have a complete picture of the input you have received.
Prototyping is a good method to bring ideas and challenges to life so you can see if you have chosen the correct area to focus on or if you have opened up a can of worms you are not ready to deal with.

5.2 Break Things Into Manageable Chunks

Some of the issues raised in your research will be more significant and difficult to address than others. If this is the case, do not take on more than you can handle at once. Instead, break down the input into smaller parts and deal with it one at a time. That way, you will have more achievements to celebrate as you progress!
It is crucial to understand that strictly following consumer input will not always help you fulfill your product’s goal. Keep things in perspective and remember your north star as you assess the comments you are receiving.

5.3 Build In A Way That Works For The Future

There may be some immediate successes from your study, but really, your users—both merchants and agencies—want to know that you are growing with them.
You may find yourself at a crossroads, deciding whether to build on your current framework or re-architect to make it easier to develop the things your consumers desire in the future. More often than not, the latter is the best option. Though it may seem time-consuming and daunting at first, you will be laying the groundwork for considerably greater future success.

6. Ongoing Feedback And Iteration

Your app may be operational, but your research is never truly completed. Set up several routes for feedback, such as webinars, forums, a Facebook group, or feature request walls, so that you can keep it flowing. Remember that feedback will reveal things you had not considered, and if one person requests something, it is probable that 10 more do as well.

7. What You Should Learn From Feedback

When it comes to audience research, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Every app and developer will see the answer differently. To sum up, these are the top four takeaways from our audience research that you should think about.
  • Accept the possibility that your app will be unappealing: Never believe your friends and relatives when they tell you that your product is fantastic. They will not be the ones to inform you if your app is unattractive. Encourage yourself to get out and seek honest feedback from the people who matter most to you: your customers and clients.
  • All feedback is excellent feedback: As software developers, you should be challenging yourself and questioning your market fit all the time. It is fantastic to have positive comments, but it is the negative feedback that will motivate you to innovate and develop.
  • The greatest research is driven by relationships: individuals provide feedback. You can ensure that when the time comes, merchants and organizations will take the time to answer your inquiries by developing and nurturing strong relationships with them.
By adhering to these guidelines, you will be preparing your app company to collect meaningful, relevant feedback in order to face new challenges and solve new issues.
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