Market Research for Product Managers Training Course, offered by Oxford Training Centre, provides a comprehensive and structured exploration of modern research practices tailored specifically for product managers who are responsible for making data-driven decisions. Positioned within the broader landscape of Product Management Training Courses, this programme focuses on practical, analytical, and strategic approaches used to understand markets, customers, competitors, and emerging opportunities.
The demand for strong market research for product managers continues to increase as organisations compete in dynamic environments where customer expectations shift rapidly. Effective research enables teams to uncover deep customer motivations, validate product hypotheses, and align product development with behavioural insights and market realities. This training equips professionals with the ability to apply both qualitative and quantitative research methods, conduct customer interviews, and perform structured market assessments tailored to specific product goals.
Participants learn how to draw meaningful conclusions from user and customer data, enabling them to enhance decision quality throughout the product lifecycle. The course covers essential techniques such as user research techniques for PMs, structured market trends and opportunity analysis, and actionable frameworks for market validation and product fit analysis. Through real-world scenarios and guided exercises, attendees gain confidence in applying research methods that directly support research-driven product strategy and informed product roadmapping.
A key focus of the course is developing mastery in customer needs assessment for product teams, allowing participants to identify unmet needs, shift product direction based on evidence, and design products that deliver measurable value. The programme also explores advanced topics in competitive market analysis training, enabling product managers to interpret competitive dynamics, evaluate differentiation opportunities, and assess threats that influence product success.
By the end of the course, participants will have developed advanced product discovery research skills, enabling them to lead research initiatives that support product innovation, strategic planning, and continuous improvement across diverse product environments.
Objectives
This training develops strategic, analytical, and practical competencies essential for conducting research that drives informed product decisions. Key objectives include:
- Developing deep understanding of market research for product managers and its strategic value.
- Gaining proficiency in conducting structured customer research and product insights.
- Learning to apply qualitative and quantitative research methods for different product scenarios.
- Strengthening ability to perform competitive market analysis training relevant to product positioning.
- Building competency in user research techniques for PMs, including interviews, surveys, and observation.
- Enhancing skills in market trends and opportunity analysis to support strategic planning.
- Mastering customer needs assessment for product teams to identify and prioritise unmet needs.
- Applying frameworks for market validation and product fit analysis to reduce product risk.
- Developing advanced product discovery research skills for innovation cycles.
- Integrating research outcomes into effective research-driven product strategy.
- Enhancing cross-functional communication of research insights for product alignment.
- Understanding how research supports long-term roadmap development and hypothesis testing.
Target Audience
This course is ideal for professionals responsible for research-driven product decision-making and customer insight generation. It is suitable for:
- Product managers seeking stronger capability in structured market and customer research.
- Product owners involved in discovery, validation, and user insight analysis.
- Researchers supporting product teams with data-driven findings.
- Business analysts working on market trends and opportunity analysis for product planning.
- UX researchers who need deeper alignment with product decision frameworks.
- Individuals responsible for customer needs assessment for product teams.
- Teams participating in early-stage product discovery and experimentation.
- Professionals conducting competitive market analysis training for strategic positioning.
- Product strategists shaping long-term product evolution and roadmap direction.
- Innovation leaders building structured approaches to market validation.
- Anyone seeking to enhance their skill set in qualitative and quantitative research methods for product management.
How Will Attendees Benefit?
Participants will gain actionable, research-driven competencies that support evidence-based product management and high-confidence decision-making. Key benefits include:
- Ability to independently conduct professional-level market research for product managers.
- Strong capability in interpreting customer research and product insights for strategic decisions.
- Deep understanding of how qualitative and quantitative research methods support product strategy.
- Improved analysis of competitor strengths, weaknesses, and market positioning.
- Enhanced capability to use user research techniques for PMs to uncover behavioural patterns.
- Practical skills in analysing market trends and opportunity analysis for new product directions.
- Confidence in performing market validation and product fit analysis using structured frameworks.
- Strengthened product discovery research skills for innovation and exploration phases.
- Ability to translate research findings into actionable research-driven product strategy.
- Clear frameworks for evaluating customer behaviour, satisfaction, and unmet needs.
- Improved collaboration with UX, design, marketing, and business analysis teams.
- Stronger ability to reduce product risk through evidence-based decisions.
Course Content
Module 1: Foundations of Market Research for Product Managers
- Core principles of market research for product managers
- Role of research in product discovery and decision-making
- Types of research: behavioural, attitudinal, primary, secondary
- Integrating research with product development workflows
Module 2: Customer Research and Product Insights
- Frameworks for customer research and product insights
- Conducting interviews and extracting behavioural meaning
- Identifying user motivations, pain points, and unmet needs
- Synthesising findings into actionable insight reports
Module 3: Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methods
- Understanding qualitative and quantitative research methods
- Selecting the right method for the right question
- Designing surveys, focus groups, and observation studies
- Analysing qualitative narratives and quantitative datasets
Module 4: User Research Techniques for PMs
- Practical user research techniques for PMs
- Usability testing methods and analysis
- Customer journey mapping and behavioural insights
- Capturing context-rich data through field research
Module 5: Competitive Market Analysis Training
- Structuring competitive market analysis training frameworks
- Identifying competitor moves and emerging threats
- Mapping competitive landscapes and industry forces
- Benchmarking product strengths and differentiation opportunities
Module 6: Market Trends and Opportunity Analysis
- Conducting market trends and opportunity analysis
- Assessing macroeconomic, demographic, and behavioural trends
- Identifying early indicators of market movement
- Trend-based opportunity mapping for product growth
Module 7: Customer Needs Assessment and Validation
- Methods for customer needs assessment for product teams
- Prioritising needs using structured frameworks
- Aligning needs assessment with product strategy
- Data-driven techniques for validating assumptions
Module 8: Market Validation and Product Fit Analysis
- Applying market validation and product fit analysis frameworks
- Testing hypotheses through research techniques
- Identifying product–market fit indicators
- Analysing risk and refining product concepts
Module 9: Research-Driven Product Strategy
- Designing research-driven product strategy for short- and long-term planning
- Connecting research insights to roadmap priorities
- Communicating findings to stakeholders
- Maintaining research processes across the product lifecycle