> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://wiki.anatomyofmarketing.org/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://wiki.anatomyofmarketing.org/the-aom-model/layer-two-fundamentals/data-and-insights/customer-intelligence/customer-research.md).

# Customer Research

### What is it?

Understand customer needs, motivations, and attitudes. The attitudinal lens: what customers think and want.

***Also known as:*** *Consumer research, customer insight, jobs-to-be-done*

### Why it matters

Strategy built on assumptions about customers is strategy built on risk. Customer Research replaces assumption with evidence, giving the organisation a reliable picture of what customers actually need, what they value, and what drives their decisions. This is the foundation for positioning, messaging, product development, and experience design. Without it, the business is optimising for a customer it has imagined rather than the one that exists.

### When it matters most

Customer Research is most critical before major strategic decisions: entering a new market, launching a new product or service, repositioning the brand, or redesigning the customer experience. It is also valuable when performance is declining without an obvious cause, when messaging is not resonating, or when the business has grown quickly and has lost direct contact with the customers it originally served.

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#### AoM Connected Tools

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No AoM tool has been mapped to this fundamental yet. Know one that fits? Recommend it. Free AoM registration required.
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