Market Research Step 3: Customer Pain Points and Needs

MANDATORY EXECUTION RULES (READ FIRST):

• 🛑 NEVER generate content without web search verification

• 📖 CRITICAL: ALWAYS read the complete step file before taking any action - partial understanding leads to incomplete decisions

• 🔄 CRITICAL: When loading next step with 'C', ensure the entire file is read and understood before proceeding

• ✅ Search the web to verify and supplement your knowledge with current facts

• 📋 YOU ARE A CUSTOMER NEEDS ANALYST, not content generator

• 💬 FOCUS on customer pain points, challenges, and unmet needs

• 🔍 WEB SEARCH REQUIRED - verify current facts against live sources

• 📝 WRITE CONTENT IMMEDIATELY TO DOCUMENT

• ✅ YOU MUST ALWAYS SPEAK OUTPUT In your Agent communication style with the config {communication_language}

EXECUTION PROTOCOLS:

• 🎯 Show web search analysis before presenting findings
• ⚠️ Present [C] continue option after pain points content generation
• 📝 WRITE CUSTOMER PAIN POINTS ANALYSIS TO DOCUMENT IMMEDIATELY
• 💾 ONLY proceed when user chooses C (Continue)
• 📖 Update frontmatter stepsCompleted: [1, 2, 3] before loading next step
• 🚫 FORBIDDEN to load next step until C is selected

CONTEXT BOUNDARIES:

• Current document and frontmatter from previous steps are available
• Customer behavior analysis completed in previous step
• Focus on customer pain points, challenges, and unmet needs
• Web search capabilities with source verification are enabled
• Research topic = "{{research_topic}}" - established from initial discussion
• Research goals = "{{research_goals}}" - established from initial discussion

YOUR TASK:

Conduct customer pain points and needs analysis with emphasis on challenges and frustrations.

CUSTOMER PAIN POINTS ANALYSIS SEQUENCE:

1. Begin Customer Pain Points Analysis

UTILIZE SUBPROCESSES AND SUBAGENTS: Use research subagents, subprocesses or parallel processing if available to thoroughly analyze different customer pain point areas simultaneously and thoroughly.

Start with customer pain points research approach: "Now I'll conduct customer pain points analysis for {{research_topic}} to understand customer challenges.

Customer Pain Points Focus:

• Customer challenges and frustrations
• Unmet needs and unaddressed problems
• Barriers to adoption or usage
• Service and support pain points
• Customer satisfaction gaps

Let me search for current customer pain points insights."

2. Parallel Pain Points Research Execution

Execute multiple web searches simultaneously:

Search the web: "{{research_topic}} customer pain points challenges" Search the web: "{{research_topic}} customer frustrations" Search the web: "{{research_topic}} unmet customer needs" Search the web: "{{research_topic}} customer barriers to adoption"

Analysis approach:

• Look for customer satisfaction surveys and reports
• Search for customer complaints and reviews
• Research customer support and service issues
• Analyze barriers to customer adoption
• Study unmet needs and market gaps

3. Analyze and Aggregate Results

Collect and analyze findings from all parallel searches:

"After executing comprehensive parallel web searches, let me analyze and aggregate customer pain points findings:

Research Coverage:

• Customer challenges and frustrations
• Unmet needs and unaddressed problems
• Barriers to adoption or usage
• Service and support pain points

Cross-Pain Points Analysis: [Identify patterns connecting different types of pain points]

Quality Assessment: [Overall confidence levels and research gaps identified]"

4. Generate Customer Pain Points Content

WRITE IMMEDIATELY TO DOCUMENT

Prepare customer pain points analysis with web search citations:

Content Structure:

When saving to document, append these Level 2 and Level 3 sections:

## Customer Pain Points and Needs

### Customer Challenges and Frustrations

[Customer challenges analysis with source citations]
_Primary Frustrations: [Major customer frustrations identified]_
_Usage Barriers: [Barriers preventing effective usage]_
_Service Pain Points: [Customer service and support issues]_
_Frequency Analysis: [How often these challenges occur]_
_Source: [URL]_

### Unmet Customer Needs

[Unmet needs analysis with source citations]
_Critical Unmet Needs: [Most important unaddressed needs]_
_Solution Gaps: [Opportunities to address unmet needs]_
_Market Gaps: [Market opportunities from unmet needs]_
_Priority Analysis: [Which needs are most critical]_
_Source: [URL]_

### Barriers to Adoption

[Adoption barriers analysis with source citations]
_Price Barriers: [Cost-related barriers to adoption]_
_Technical Barriers: [Complexity or technical barriers]_
_Trust Barriers: [Trust and credibility issues]_
_Convenience Barriers: [Ease of use or accessibility issues]_
_Source: [URL]_

### Service and Support Pain Points

[Service pain points analysis with source citations]
_Customer Service Issues: [Common customer service problems]_
_Support Gaps: [Areas where customer support is lacking]_
_Communication Issues: [Communication breakdowns and frustrations]_
_Response Time Issues: [Slow response and resolution problems]_
_Source: [URL]_

### Customer Satisfaction Gaps

[Satisfaction gap analysis with source citations]
_Expectation Gaps: [Differences between expectations and reality]_
_Quality Gaps: [Areas where quality expectations aren't met]_
_Value Perception Gaps: [Perceived value vs actual value]_
_Trust and Credibility Gaps: [Trust issues affecting satisfaction]_
_Source: [URL]_

### Emotional Impact Assessment

[Emotional impact analysis with source citations]
_Frustration Levels: [Customer frustration severity assessment]_
_Loyalty Risks: [How pain points affect customer loyalty]_
_Reputation Impact: [Impact on brand or product reputation]_
_Customer Retention Risks: [Risk of customer loss from pain points]_
_Source: [URL]_

### Pain Point Prioritization

[Pain point prioritization with source citations]
_High Priority Pain Points: [Most critical pain points to address]_
_Medium Priority Pain Points: [Important but less critical pain points]_
_Low Priority Pain Points: [Minor pain points with lower impact]_
_Opportunity Mapping: [Pain points with highest solution opportunity]_
_Source: [URL]_

5. Present Analysis and Continue Option

Show analysis and present continue option:

"I've completed customer pain points analysis for {{research_topic}}, focusing on customer challenges.

Key Pain Points Findings:

• Customer challenges and frustrations thoroughly documented
• Unmet needs and solution gaps clearly identified
• Adoption barriers and service pain points analyzed
• Customer satisfaction gaps assessed
• Pain points prioritized by impact and opportunity

Ready to proceed to customer decision processes? [C] Continue - Save this to document and proceed to decision processes analysis

HALT — wait for user response before proceeding.

6. Handle Continue Selection

If 'C' (Continue):

• CONTENT ALREADY WRITTEN TO DOCUMENT
• Update frontmatter: stepsCompleted: [1, 2, 3]
• Load: ./step-04-customer-decisions.md

APPEND TO DOCUMENT:

Content is already written to document when generated in step 4. No additional append needed.

SUCCESS METRICS:

✅ Customer challenges and frustrations clearly documented ✅ Unmet needs and solution gaps identified ✅ Adoption barriers and service pain points analyzed ✅ Customer satisfaction gaps assessed ✅ Pain points prioritized by impact and opportunity ✅ Content written immediately to document ✅ [C] continue option presented and handled correctly ✅ Proper routing to next step (customer decisions) ✅ Research goals alignment maintained

FAILURE MODES:

❌ Relying solely on training data without web verification for current facts

❌ Missing critical customer challenges or frustrations ❌ Not identifying unmet needs or solution gaps ❌ Incomplete adoption barriers analysis ❌ Not writing content immediately to document ❌ Not presenting [C] continue option after content generation ❌ Not routing to customer decisions analysis step

❌ CRITICAL: Reading only partial step file - leads to incomplete understanding and poor decisions ❌ CRITICAL: Proceeding with 'C' without fully reading and understanding the next step file ❌ CRITICAL: Making decisions without complete understanding of step requirements and protocols

CUSTOMER PAIN POINTS RESEARCH PROTOCOLS:

• Research customer satisfaction surveys and reviews
• Use customer feedback and complaint data
• Analyze customer support and service issues
• Study barriers to customer adoption
• Focus on current pain point data
• Present conflicting information when sources disagree
• Apply confidence levels appropriately

PAIN POINTS ANALYSIS STANDARDS:

• Always cite URLs for web search results
• Use authoritative customer research sources
• Note data currency and potential limitations
• Present multiple perspectives when sources conflict
• Apply confidence levels to uncertain data
• Focus on actionable pain point insights

NEXT STEP:

After user selects 'C', load ./step-04-customer-decisions.md to analyze customer decision processes, journey mapping, and decision factors for {{research_topic}}.

Remember: Always write research content to document immediately and emphasize current customer pain points data with rigorous source verification!