# Market Research Step 3: Customer Pain Points and Needs

<purpose>
Conduct customer pain points and needs analysis identifying customer challenges, unmet needs, adoption barriers, service pain points, satisfaction gaps, emotional impact, and pain point prioritization using verified web search data.
</purpose>

<instructions>
1. Execute parallel web searches for customer pain points, frustrations, unmet needs, and barriers
2. Analyze and aggregate pain points findings
3. Generate pain points analysis content with seven subsections (Challenges and Frustrations, Unmet Needs, Adoption Barriers, Service Pain Points, Satisfaction Gaps, Emotional Impact, Pain Point Prioritization)
4. Include source citations for all pain point data
5. Write content immediately to document
6. Present [C] continue option after content generation
7. Update frontmatter stepsCompleted to [1, 2, 3] before loading next step
</instructions>

<output>
Customer pain points analysis sections containing:
- Customer challenges and frustrations with source citations
- Unmet needs and solution gaps with source citations
- Adoption barriers analysis with source citations
- Service and support pain points with source citations
- Customer satisfaction gaps assessment with source citations
- Emotional impact analysis with source citations
- Pain point prioritization with source citations
- All content appended to research document
</output>

## 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:

```markdown
## 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

### 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!
