Survey template

Market research survey

Most market research asks 'would you use this?' and gets a meaningless yes. This template follows the Mom Test instead — it asks how people solve the problem today, what they've already paid to solve it, and how often and how badly it actually hurts — so you validate demand on behavior rather than hypotheticals.

Best for: Founders and product teams validating an audience or problem before building.

The questions

1. How do you handle this problem today?

   Long text

   The current workaround. A real, named process means a real problem; 'I don't, really' means it may not be one worth solving.

2. What's the hardest part of doing it that way?

   Long text

   The specific pain inside the workaround — this is where a product earns its place, not in the problem in general.

3. Have you paid for anything to help with this?

   Single select

   Yes / No — past spend is the strongest evidence of real demand, far stronger than stated interest.

4. If yes, what did you use and what did it cost?

   Short text

   Names your real competition and the price the market already accepts.

5. How often does this problem come up?

   Single select

   Daily / Weekly / Monthly / Rarely — frequency separates a painkiller from a vitamin.

6. How much does it set you back when it happens?

   Opinion scale

   Severity. High frequency plus high severity is the combination worth building for.

7. What would have to be true for you to switch to a new solution?

   Long text

   Surfaces the real switching cost and the bar a new product has to clear.

How to run it well

• Anchor every question to past behavior, not future intent — 'would you use this?' is the Mom Test's classic trap; 'what have you done about it?' gets the truth.
• Weight 'have you paid' over any enthusiasm signal; people who've already opened their wallet for a workaround are your real market.
• Map frequency against severity — a frequent, painful problem is a business; a rare or mild one is a feature at best, however interesting it sounds.
• Read the current-solution answers as your competitive landscape; the workarounds people name are who you're actually displacing, spreadsheet included.
• Resist pitching your idea inside the survey — once respondents know what you're hoping to hear, the behavioral answers get contaminated by politeness.

FAQ

Why ask about current behavior instead of whether they'd buy?

Stated buying intent is unreliable — people say yes to be nice and to imagined products that solve every problem. How they handle the problem today, what they've paid, and how often it hurts are facts about their life, not predictions about yours. That's the Mom Test: ask about their behavior, never pitch your idea.

How do I know if the problem is worth building for?

Look for frequency times severity backed by past spend. A problem that comes up weekly, costs them real time or money when it does, and has already made them pay for a workaround is validated demand. Rare, mild, or never-paid-for problems are interesting but not businesses.

How many responses do I need before I trust the results?

For directional validation, a few dozen targeted responses from the right audience beats hundreds from the wrong one. You're looking for a clear pattern in behavior — repeated workarounds, repeated spend, repeated pain — not statistical significance. Quality and fit of the respondents matters more than raw count at this stage.

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