Market Research Glossary
Clear, expert definitions for market research frameworks, methods, and concepts — with practical examples and FAQs.
Market White Space
Market White Space is a practical way to describe how strategy teams turn raw market data into decisions. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Market White Space is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Pricing Power
Pricing Power is a practical way to describe how product, growth, and strategy functions monitor market change. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Pricing Power is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Trend Analysis
Trend Analysis is a practical way to describe how product, growth, and strategy functions monitor market change. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Trend Analysis is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Share of Search
Share of Search is a practical way to describe how strategy teams turn raw market data into decisions. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Share of Search is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Serviceable Addressable Market
Serviceable Addressable Market is a practical way to describe how startup and enterprise teams evaluate opportunity and competition. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Serviceable Addressable Market is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Serviceable Obtainable Market
Serviceable Obtainable Market is a practical way to describe how strategy teams turn raw market data into decisions. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Serviceable Obtainable Market is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Segment Prioritization
Segment Prioritization is a practical way to describe how product, growth, and strategy functions monitor market change. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Segment Prioritization is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Search Intent Mapping
Search Intent Mapping is a practical way to describe how strategy teams turn raw market data into decisions. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Search Intent Mapping is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Review Mining
Review Mining is a practical way to describe how product, growth, and strategy functions monitor market change. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Review Mining is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Product-Market Fit Signals
Product-Market Fit Signals is a practical way to describe how strategy teams turn raw market data into decisions. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Product-Market Fit Signals is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Pricing Intelligence
Pricing Intelligence is a practical way to describe how strategy teams turn raw market data into decisions. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Pricing Intelligence is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Price Elasticity
Price Elasticity is a practical way to describe how product, growth, and strategy functions monitor market change. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Price Elasticity is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Positioning Analysis
Positioning Analysis is a practical way to describe how startup and enterprise teams evaluate opportunity and competition. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Positioning Analysis is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Persona Research
Persona Research is a practical way to describe how strategy teams turn raw market data into decisions. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Persona Research is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Opportunity Scoring
Opportunity Scoring is a practical way to describe how strategy teams turn raw market data into decisions. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Opportunity Scoring is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Narrative Intelligence
Narrative Intelligence is a practical way to describe how startup and enterprise teams evaluate opportunity and competition. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Narrative Intelligence is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Message Testing
Message Testing is a practical way to describe how startup and enterprise teams evaluate opportunity and competition. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Message Testing is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Market Signals
Market Signals is a practical way to describe how product, growth, and strategy functions monitor market change. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Market Signals is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Market Segmentation
Market Segmentation is a practical way to describe how startup and enterprise teams evaluate opportunity and competition. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Market Segmentation is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Market Saturation
Market Saturation is a practical way to describe how startup and enterprise teams evaluate opportunity and competition. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Market Saturation is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Market Momentum
Market Momentum is a practical way to describe how product, growth, and strategy functions monitor market change. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Market Momentum is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Market Mapping
Market Mapping is a practical way to describe how product, growth, and strategy functions monitor market change. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Market Mapping is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Market Entry Strategy
Market Entry Strategy is a practical way to describe how startup and enterprise teams evaluate opportunity and competition. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Market Entry Strategy is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Market Attractiveness
Market Attractiveness is a practical way to describe how startup and enterprise teams evaluate opportunity and competition. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Market Attractiveness is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Jobs to Be Done
Jobs to Be Done is a practical way to describe how startup and enterprise teams evaluate opportunity and competition. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Jobs to Be Done is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Industry Mapping
Industry Mapping is a practical way to describe how startup and enterprise teams evaluate opportunity and competition. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Industry Mapping is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
ICP Validation
ICP Validation is a practical way to describe how product, growth, and strategy functions monitor market change. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, ICP Validation is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Hiring Signals
Hiring Signals is a practical way to describe how product, growth, and strategy functions monitor market change. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Hiring Signals is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Growth Signals
Growth Signals is a practical way to describe how product, growth, and strategy functions monitor market change. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Growth Signals is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Go-to-Market Intelligence
Go-to-Market Intelligence is a practical way to describe how product, growth, and strategy functions monitor market change. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Go-to-Market Intelligence is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Geographic Expansion Analysis
Geographic Expansion Analysis is a practical way to describe how strategy teams turn raw market data into decisions. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Geographic Expansion Analysis is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Feature Parity
Feature Parity is a practical way to describe how startup and enterprise teams evaluate opportunity and competition. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Feature Parity is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Decision Intelligence
Decision Intelligence is a practical way to describe how product, growth, and strategy functions monitor market change. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Decision Intelligence is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Demand Signals
Demand Signals is a practical way to describe how strategy teams turn raw market data into decisions. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Demand Signals is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Demand Forecasting
Demand Forecasting is a practical way to describe how product, growth, and strategy functions monitor market change. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Demand Forecasting is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Customer Segmentation
Customer Segmentation is a practical way to describe how product, growth, and strategy functions monitor market change. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Customer Segmentation is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Customer Persona
Customer Persona is a practical way to describe how strategy teams turn raw market data into decisions. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Customer Persona is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Competitor Monitoring
Competitor Monitoring is a practical way to describe how startup and enterprise teams evaluate opportunity and competition. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Competitor Monitoring is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Competitive Win-Loss Analysis
Competitive Win-Loss Analysis is a practical way to describe how strategy teams turn raw market data into decisions. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Competitive Win-Loss Analysis is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Competitive Set
Competitive Set is a practical way to describe how strategy teams turn raw market data into decisions. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Competitive Set is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Competitive Positioning
Competitive Positioning is a practical way to describe how startup and enterprise teams evaluate opportunity and competition. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Competitive Positioning is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Competitive Gap Analysis
Competitive Gap Analysis is a practical way to describe how startup and enterprise teams evaluate opportunity and competition. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Competitive Gap Analysis is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Competitive Benchmarking
Competitive Benchmarking is a practical way to describe how strategy teams turn raw market data into decisions. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Competitive Benchmarking is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Category White Space
Category White Space is a practical way to describe how product, growth, and strategy functions monitor market change. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Category White Space is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Category Maturity
Category Maturity is a practical way to describe how product, growth, and strategy functions monitor market change. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Category Maturity is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Category Growth Rate
Category Growth Rate is a practical way to describe how strategy teams turn raw market data into decisions. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Category Growth Rate is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Category Design
Category Design is a practical way to describe how product, growth, and strategy functions monitor market change. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Category Design is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Category Creation
Category Creation is a practical way to describe how strategy teams turn raw market data into decisions. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Category Creation is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Bottom-Up Market Sizing
Bottom-Up Market Sizing is a practical way to describe how startup and enterprise teams evaluate opportunity and competition. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Bottom-Up Market Sizing is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
Account Intelligence
Account Intelligence is a practical way to describe how product, growth, and strategy functions monitor market change. If you imagine a founder deciding whether to enter a market, Account Intelligence is the shortcut that helps them understand what matters, what to watch, and what decision to make next.
TAM, SAM, SOM
Imagine you want to sell lemonade. TAM is every person on Earth who might buy lemonade. SAM is just the people in your city. SOM is the realistic number of customers you can actually serve this summer with your one stand.
Market Sizing
Market sizing is figuring out how much money could be made in a given market. It's like counting all the people who might buy your product and multiplying by how much they'd pay — to see if the opportunity is worth pursuing.
Competitive Intelligence
Competitive intelligence is systematically watching what your competitors are doing so you're not caught off guard. It's like having a really organized friend who keeps track of everything the other teams in your league are up to — their players, their plays, and their weaknesses.
Porter's Five Forces
Imagine you want to open a pizza shop. Porter's Five Forces asks: How hard will other pizza shops fight you (competition)? How easily could new pizza places open (new entrants)? Could people just eat burgers instead (substitutes)? How much power do your cheese and flour suppliers have (suppliers)? And how picky are your customers (buyers)?
SWOT Analysis
SWOT is a simple way to size up a business. What is the company good at (Strengths)? Where does it struggle (Weaknesses)? What opportunities exist in the market (Opportunities)? What threats could hurt it (Threats)?
PESTLE Analysis
PESTLE is a way of looking at all the big outside forces that could affect a business. It checks Political rules, Economic conditions, Social trends, Technology changes, Legal regulations, and Environmental factors — kind of like a weather forecast for business.
Market Segmentation
Market segmentation is dividing all your potential customers into distinct groups who share similar characteristics. Instead of making a product 'for everyone,' you figure out which specific group needs it most — and focus your energy there first.
Competitive Moat
A competitive moat is the thing that makes it really hard for someone to copy your business. Like a real moat around a castle — it keeps competitors out. Companies with strong moats keep making money even when others try to compete with them.
Product-Market Fit
Product-market fit means you've found a group of people who really need what you're selling, and they love it so much that they'd be genuinely disappointed if they couldn't use it anymore. It's when your product clicks with the right market.
Go-to-Market Strategy
A go-to-market strategy is the plan for how you're going to reach the people you want to sell to. It covers: who you're selling to, how you'll reach them, what you'll say, and how much you'll charge.
Net Promoter Score (NPS)
NPS is a simple question: 'On a scale of 0–10, how likely are you to recommend us to a friend?' People who score 9–10 are promoters; 7–8 are passive; 0–6 are detractors. Subtract detractors from promoters and you get NPS. High NPS means customers love you.
Churn Rate
Churn rate is how quickly customers are leaving your business. If you have 100 customers and lose 5 in a month, your monthly churn rate is 5%. High churn means you're filling a leaky bucket — you need to keep getting new customers just to stay the same size.
Customer Lifetime Value (LTV / CLV)
LTV is how much money a customer will spend with you over the whole time they're your customer. If someone pays $100/month and stays for 2 years on average, their LTV is $2,400. It tells you how much it's worth spending to acquire a customer.
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
CAC is how much money you spend to get one new customer. If you spend $10,000 on marketing and sales in a month and get 100 new customers, your CAC is $100. Lower is generally better, but only if you're still reaching the right customers.
Buyer Persona
A buyer persona is a detailed description of the type of person who buys your product. Instead of thinking about all customers as one big group, you create a realistic description of your typical buyer — their job, their problems, what they care about — so you can tailor your messaging and product to them.
Jobs-to-Be-Done (JTBD)
Jobs-to-be-done says that people don't buy products — they 'hire' products to do a specific job for them. When you buy a drill, the job isn't 'have a drill' — it's 'have a hole in the wall.' Understanding the actual job changes how you design and market the product.
Market Research
Market research is the process of learning about your market — who your customers are, what they need, what competitors offer, and where opportunities exist. It's the difference between building something because you think it's a good idea and building something because you know people need it.
Consumer Insights
Consumer insights are the 'aha moments' that explain why customers really behave the way they do — not just what they do, but the underlying motivations, emotions, and context. They're the difference between data and understanding.
Market Analysis
Market analysis is a deep look at a specific market to understand its size, growth, competition, customers, and opportunities. It's like doing thorough research before making a big investment — you want to know everything you can about where you're putting your money.
NPS (Net Promoter Score)
NPS is a score that tells you how many of your customers love you enough to recommend you minus how many are unhappy enough to warn others away. It goes from -100 to +100, and higher is always better.
ICP (Ideal Customer Profile)
Your ICP is a detailed description of the perfect type of company or person for your product — the ones who get the most value, stay longest, and are easiest to work with. Knowing your ICP lets you stop wasting time on bad-fit prospects.
Primary Research
Primary research means you go out and collect the data yourself — by asking people questions, watching them use your product, or running experiments. You're not using someone else's data; you're generating your own.
Secondary Research
Secondary research means using data that someone else already collected. Industry reports, government statistics, academic studies, and news articles are all secondary research. It's faster and cheaper than primary research, but it might not answer your specific question.
Voice of Customer (VoC)
Voice of Customer is a program that systematically collects and acts on customer feedback. Instead of guessing what customers want, you build structured ways to listen to them — through surveys, interviews, support analysis — and route those insights to the teams who need them.
Addressable Market
Addressable market is the portion of a total market that you can realistically reach and sell to. It's not every potential customer in the world — it's the ones your product can actually serve, in the places you can actually operate.