External meetings
Market research call template
A set of questions for conducting market research calls with customers or prospective buyers.
Template author
Hubspot [Source]
About this template
If you’ve never conducted market research before, it can seem intimidating. But fear not! This template from Hubspot gives you a 30-minute outline for a research call that covers valuable background information on the participant, followed by questions for all stages of the customer journey: awareness, consideration, and decision.
All of the questions are open-ended to encourage deeper insights — feel free to spend more time on certain areas of interest and skip questions that may not be as relevant to your research.
Market Research Call Agenda (30 minutes)
Background information (5 minutes)
Describe how your team is structured.
Tell me about your personal job responsibilities.
What are the team’s goals and how do you measure them?
What has been your biggest challenge in the last year?
Awareness (5 minutes)
Think back to when you first realized you needed a [name the product/service category, but not yours specifically]. What challenges were you facing at the time?
How did you know that something in this category could help you?
How familiar were you with different options on the market?
Consideration (5 minutes)
What was the first thing you did to research potential solutions? How helpful was this source?
Where did you go to find more information? (more questions if needed)
How did you find that source?
How did you use vendor websites?
What words specifically did you search on Google?
How helpful was it? How could it be better?
What provided the most (and least) helpful information? What did that look like?
Decision (10 minutes)
Which of the sources you described above was the most influential in driving your decision?
What, if any, criteria did you establish to compare the alternatives?
What vendors made it to the short list and what were the pros/cons of each?
Who else was involved in the final decision? What role did each of these people play?
What factors ultimately influenced your final purchasing decision?
Closing
What would your ideal buying process look like? How would it differ from what they experienced?
Allow time for further questions on their end.
Don’t forget to thank them for their time and confirm their address to send a thank-you note or incentive.
Source: Hubspot
When to use this template
Use this template when doing market or buyer research to create personas. Aim to find new customers (who recently purchased), “lost” users (who considered your solution but didn’t buy), and prospects in certain persona groups.
Hubspot recommends interviewing at least 10 people per buyer persona you’re trying to create, reaching out to your social networks if needed to find more participants. For the best results, record and transcribe these calls (with permission) so that you don’t lose any of the valuable information or get distracted taking notes — Vowel can help with that!
