An investment or strategy team wants independent perspectives on a niche software product. A small customer base can make a standard title-based search inadequate. The audience may include current users, former customers, and evaluators who selected an alternative.
Define the relevant audience
Define which relationship to the product is relevant and how recently it occurred. Confirm the participant’s personal role in evaluation, implementation, or use. Distinguish an employee’s general market knowledge from firsthand customer experience.
Choose the research approach
Plan contrasting perspectives deliberately and report which are missing. A few dissatisfied users can identify questions worth investigating without establishing the experience of the entire customer base. The same limit applies to positive supplier-provided references.
Plan participant access and support
Allow for specialist sourcing, language support, and the investment team’s compliance review where required. Keep questions within permitted firsthand experience. Do not ask for confidential company, transaction, or customer information.
Apply the planning lesson
Niche research benefits from a clear account of how participants were found and what they can actually know. Interview evidence should support a defined question without becoming a return forecast or an industry-wide conclusion.
Set sample size, quotas, timing, and verification for the actual study. This illustrative scenario is a planning aid and makes no claim about a delivered Focus Crossroads project.
