You have built a product. Users are signing up. But the metrics tell a muddled story: some customers love it, others churn quickly, and your team cannot agree on whether you have achieved product-market fit or are still searching for it. This ambiguity is more than uncomfortable. It drives bad decisions about where to invest, when to scale, and how to prioritize a roadmap that is already too long.
A product market fit survey is the most direct way to measure whether your product has found genuine resonance with a defined market. But running the survey is the easy part. Designing it correctly, interpreting the results with nuance, and translating findings into strategic action is where most organizations struggle. At Meraki Research, we design and execute comprehensive product-market fit research that goes well beyond a single metric to give you a complete picture of where you stand and what to do next.
We have conducted PMF research for products at every stage, from pre-launch concepts to established offerings seeking their next wave of growth. Our work has helped teams make confident decisions about scaling, pivoting, doubling down, and, yes, sometimes killing a product before it consumes more resources than it returns.
Our Approach: The Fit Diagnostic Methodology
The Sean Ellis test, asking users how disappointed they would be if your product disappeared, is a useful starting point. But a single question does not give you enough to act on. Our Fit Diagnostic Methodology builds a multi-dimensional picture of fit that drives real strategic decisions.
Phase 1: Fit Hypothesis Development
Before we field a single survey, we work with your team to articulate your assumptions about who the product is for, what problems it solves, and why it should win. These hypotheses become the testable foundation of the research. Getting this step right prevents the common mistake of measuring fit against the wrong market definition.
Phase 2: Product Market Fit Survey Design
We design a custom research instrument that measures fit across multiple dimensions: the Sean Ellis disappointment metric, satisfaction depth, use case alignment, competitive alternatives, willingness to pay, and advocacy likelihood. The survey is tailored to your specific product category and user base. We also incorporate open-ended questions that surface the language your customers actually use to describe your value, which is gold for marketing and positioning.
Phase 3: Segmented Fieldwork
We do not treat your user base as a monolith. We segment users by behaviour, tenure, use case, and demographic profile to identify where fit is strongest and where it is weakest. This segmentation often reveals that you have achieved strong product-market fit with one audience while completely missing with another, an insight that changes everything about your growth strategy.
Phase 4: Competitive Context Analysis
Fit does not exist in a vacuum. We assess how your product compares to the alternatives your customers would turn to if yours disappeared. This draws on our competitive intelligence capabilities and includes both direct competitors and the workarounds and substitutes that users have cobbled together. Understanding the competitive context tells you whether your fit is durable or fragile.
Phase 5: Fit Score and Strategic Roadmap
We synthesize everything into a clear PMF score with segment-level detail, an honest assessment of where you stand, and a prioritized roadmap for strengthening fit. This is not a generic "build better features" recommendation. It is a research-backed strategy that identifies the specific problems to solve, segments to focus on, and positioning changes that will accelerate growth.
When Product-Market Fit Research Is the Right Fit
This service is built for you if:
- You have an active product with real users and need to measure where you stand on product/market fit
- Growth has stalled and you need to understand whether the issue is fit, distribution, or something else
- You are preparing for a funding round and need credible PMF evidence for investors
- Your team is debating whether to scale or iterate, and you need data to resolve the argument
- You serve multiple segments and need to know where fit is strongest to focus resources
- A pivot or major product evolution is under consideration and you need a baseline before making changes
- Entrepreneurs building early-stage products who need to validate fit before committing to scale
This is probably not the right engagement if:
- You are still at the concept stage with no live product or users. You need concept testing or market opportunity research first.
- You are looking for a UX audit or usability study. We measure market fit, not interface quality.
- You want a quick pulse check with a one-question survey. You can run the Sean Ellis test yourself. We are valuable when you need the full diagnostic that tells you what the number means and what to do about it.
What We Deliver
Every product-market fit research engagement produces a Fit Diagnostic Report that includes:
- PMF Scorecard -- Your overall fit score and segment-level scores using the Sean Ellis benchmark alongside our proprietary multi-dimensional fit metrics
- Segment Fit Map -- A detailed breakdown showing which customer segments exhibit strong, moderate, or weak fit, with the behavioral and attitudinal data behind each classification
- Competitive Vulnerability Assessment -- An analysis of how your product compares to alternatives in the minds of users, identifying where your position is defensible and where it is at risk
- Customer Voice Library -- Verbatim responses organised by theme, capturing the language, problems, and satisfaction drivers your customers articulate, directly usable in marketing, sales, and product development
- Growth Lever Prioritization -- A ranked set of strategic recommendations for strengthening fit, from product improvements to positioning changes to segment focus decisions, each tied to specific research evidence
- Executive Summary and Decision Framework -- A concise brief connecting PMF findings to the strategic questions your leadership team is facing
All deliverables come in presentation and document formats, with a collaborative workshop session where we discuss implications, debate priorities, and align on next steps.
Industry Applications
SaaS & Software The product market fit question is existential for software products. We measure fit across user segments, pricing tiers, and use cases to identify your strongest wedge and the clearest path to efficient growth.
Consumer Apps & Platforms Engagement metrics can mask weak fit. We cut through vanity metrics to measure whether users genuinely value your product or are simply habituated. The distinction determines whether your growth is sustainable.
Healthcare Technology Clinical workflow integration, regulatory compliance, and multi-stakeholder buying create unique fit dimensions. We measure fit across end users, administrators, and payers to ensure your product resonates across the decision chain.
Financial Technology Trust, security, and regulatory perception add layers to the fit equation in fintech. We assess whether customers trust your product enough to move real money through it, not just whether they find it convenient.
E-Commerce & D2C Repeat purchase behaviour and category dynamics shape what fit looks like in commerce. We measure whether your product earns loyalty or merely captures trial, a critical distinction for growth planning and unit economics.
B2B Services & Marketplaces Two-sided fit, serving both supply and demand, requires specialized measurement. We assess fit from both sides of the marketplace to identify which relationships are strong and which are constraining growth.