Questions to Ask When Searching for Business Problems
Every business will face problems like low sales, poor engagement, or inconsistent results. For solopreneurs, the stakes are higher because your success hinges on your personal productivity.
But there’s good news: Even if you’ve invested time, energy, or money into an idea, it’s never too late to step back and ask the right questions so your product or service fits your audience’s needs.
In fact, the most successful businesses are the ones that evolve after revisiting their core assumptions. (Dyson went through 5,126 vacuum iterations until one worked!)
Here are essential questions to identify meaningful problems, generate valuable insights, and create something your audience will love – with the help of GummySearch. 🙂
Understanding Underlying Problems to Match Your Messaging to Your Audience
Solopreneurs often jump straight to building a solution without assessing whether the problem is big enough. Asking the right questions can help you validate that your solution truly fits their needs, such as the following:
- Who exactly is my audience?
- What problem am I solving for that audience, and why does it matter?
- How can I ensure I’m addressing the most significant problem?
- How do customer needs and frustrations evolve over time, and how can my product adapt?
Let’s bring this to life with an example: a small candle business.
Using GummySearch to Find Meaningful Answers
Click the “Audiences” icon on the left side of your dashboard, and then the “Make a new audience” button.
After creating your audience, GummySearch lets you pick relevant subreddits because there’s nothing like hearing it straight from the horse’s mouth.
For example, searching for “candles” might fetch communities focused on candle-making, scented candles, and enthusiasts. These subreddits act as a broad audience base, with the option to add more communities later.
GummySearch also highlights key subreddit details, such as activity level, size, and engagement metrics, giving you a clear snapshot of your audience’s potential reach.
Here’s what the “Candle Enthusiasts” audience looks like:
You’ll discover key sorting-based themes like Hot Discussions, Top Content, Solution Requests, Money Talk, Pain Points, Advice, Ideas, and News – ranked by how frequently people discuss them. But you’re not limited to these.
If you want something specific, browse AI-based topics like candle scents, sales trends, deals, or seasonal promotions.
For even faster research, GummySearch’s AI-powered “Ask” feature answers your questions with information and patterns from real Reddit posts, with sources.
To understand your audience, whether your product meets their needs, or if your messaging aligns with their preferences, a single reverse-engineering question like, “Why do people buy candles?” can reveal patterns, motivations, and preferences.
And just like that, GummySearch filtered through 100 relevant submissions based on my question, saving me 34 minutes by speed-reading 8,352 words.
Here’s the summary it found for me:
The data tells us that…
- The audience loves unique scents.
- They love creating moods and memories with different scents, even repeatedly buying from the same brands due to an “attachment” to certain scents.
There’s a lot to unpack, but we know that scents come up often.
As a bonus, you’ll naturally start learning about competitors – what people like and dislike, and where opportunities lie.
Identifying Awareness Problems
Your solution might be amazing, but if people don’t know it exists or understand its value, success will always feel out of reach.
Many solopreneurs face scattered marketing, unclear messaging, or their audience doesn’t see them as the solution. Questions to address these problems include:
- Are my marketing and branding efforts reaching my ideal audience?
- Is my messaging clear, consistent, and memorable?
- How do my competitors stand out, and what lessons can I apply?
Platforms like the Five Second Test help you quickly measure a user’s first impression of your landing page, site, or campaign design with real users.
To find competitors, use the Products tab in GummySearch as your go-to spot.
Here, you’ll see product categories sorted by discussion frequency. The most talked-about categories are at the top, followed by less-mentioned ones. Each category includes reviews, star ratings, and mention counts.
Every GummySearch session can lead to surprising discoveries.
While researching why people buy candles, I found a comment saying HomeWorks and Yankee Candle are “rock-bottom quality right now.”
Naturally, I clicked the blue View button.
It took me straight to the Reddit threads with more competitor discussions.
Turns out, you can outperform Yankee Candle, even though you’re not as big.
Customer Acquisition and Retention
Understanding why customers choose your product (or go elsewhere) or what’s stopping them from returning helps you address issues before they escalate. Focus on questions like:
- How do I encourage repeat customers and create loyalty?
- Am I pricing my products or services appropriately?
- Are there untapped opportunities for additional revenue streams?
To understand your audience, ask them. If you have a customer base, leverage one-on-one interviews and targeted surveys.
When direct feedback isn’t an option, or you want to cross-reference your findings, use GummySearch! The Solution Requests tab shows what customers are asking for across different communities.
I discovered people love fragrant products (confirming our existing data), mason jars for decor, seasonal scents, limited editions for collections, and aesthetically pleasing items. These insights point to upselling and cross-selling opportunities.
You can easily validate these findings. Try posting a poll on Instagram Stories asking, “What scents or products do you want next?”
When it comes to pricing, the Money Talk tab in GummySearch is best.
People discuss value perceptions, budgets, and spending habits. Just like the Solution Requests tab, GummySearch’s AI summarizes and organizes posts by frequency, with the most featured topics at the top.
For deeper insights, click the Common Patterns button.
This feature highlights recurring themes – whether people think prices are too high, if they’re overspending, or if a product feels like a good deal.
One pattern stood out: someone questioned if $24 for an 8oz candle was reasonable. GummySearch links to the original Reddit post where you can explore the discussion.
When I did that, here’s what the rest of the post said:
“Dropping $100 on candles seems absurd to my penny-pinching sensibilities. Tell me that the margins for these companies aren’t padded. Tell me that it’s art more than science. Tell me whatever will push me over the edge for this kind of spend.”
If your audience is someone on a budget, you’ve hit the jackpot with gems like this one:
That’s a whole class on candle-making, pricing, and marketing. Plus, this proves some high-intent buyers are willing to stretch their budget if your product exceeds their expectations.
Combining Money Talk insights with a pricing audit helps you move from guesswork to strategy. When auditing competitors, consider your audience and brand positioning. Are you targeting budget-conscious buyers or premium customers seeking artisanal products?
The goal isn’t to copy pricing but to understand its context and make informed decisions for your own pricing strategy.
Problems Aren’t the Enemy. Guesswork Is.
The goal isn’t to avoid problems but to expect them and have systems to spot and address them as your business grows. Instead of guessing what your customers want, you can listen, observe patterns, and validate your ideas in real time.
Reminder: going back to the drawing board isn’t a failure. Taking a step back allows you to ask smarter questions and fine-tune your approach.
Those small foundational fixes lead to the biggest breakthroughs!
