--- title: "Research the market before adding a new service" description: "Use your AI to research one real business decision. Compare customer situations and alternatives with useful free evidence before considering paid market data." canonical: "https://fidelic.ai/recipes/small-business-market-research" lastUpdated: "2026-10-28" --- # Research the market before adding a new service Name the decision that research could change. Your AI can compare customer needs, existing alternatives and your ability to deliver, using available evidence before proposing paid data. A useful outcome may be a small test or a decision to defer, rather than a long market report. [All website situations and prompts](https://fidelic.ai/recipes). ## Ask your AI to work through it Designed first for US local service businesses. Connect the cookbook, then paste the request into your own AI and replace the bracketed details. Keep your business facts and private evidence in that conversation. Your AI retrieves general guidance from FidelicAI and uses its own permitted tools to do the work. A prompt alone does not connect the cookbook. > Use the FidelicAI cookbook to help decide whether to offer [service] to [customers and place]. Compare customer needs and real alternatives using existing and free evidence. Give me a decision brief and one next step, asking before paid research or outreach. [Set up the cookbook connection](https://fidelic.ai/connect). ## Have these details ready - The service or market decision and when you need to make it. - Your real delivery capacity, constraints and existing customer knowledge. - Known alternatives customers already choose, including doing nothing or doing the work themselves. ## What a useful result contains - A decision brief with the options, constraints and evidence that could change the choice. - An alternatives comparison with attributable observations and explicit unknowns. - A recommended next job or bounded test, including cost approval and a review criterion. ## Competitor opening hours do not prove unmet demand An owner is considering weekend appointments. Competitor opening hours can describe available alternatives, but they do not establish unmet demand or the owner’s ability to staff the service. Combine scoped observations with actual customer knowledge and identify what would justify a limited test. Illustrative situation; not a customer result. ## Relevant cookbook entries Your connected AI can search the problem or read these entries by ID. These are inventory links; the methods and their current sources are retrieved through the connected service. Your AI should report unavailable guidance explicitly. Request updated: Oct 28, 2026. Recipe editorial reviews: Oct 23, 2026. Supporting sources checked: Oct 23, 2026. - **[Research a market decision for a small business](https://fidelic.ai/recipes/library#workflow.market.research)**: Research a market decision for a small business. Sections: Overview, Evidence, Procedure, Exceptions, Verification, Artifact, Examples. Recipe reviewed Oct 23, 2026; review due Nov 6, 2026. 8 supporting source records, checked Oct 23, 2026. Publishers: support.google.com, www.census.gov, www.gov.uk, www.sba.gov. - **[Frame the market decision before collecting more data](https://fidelic.ai/recipes/library#method.market.decision-brief)**: Frame the market decision before collecting more data. Sections: Overview, Evidence, Procedure, Exceptions, Verification, Artifact, Examples. Recipe reviewed Oct 23, 2026; review due Nov 6, 2026. 1 supporting source records, checked Oct 23, 2026. Publishers: www.sba.gov. - **[Learn from customer situations without inventing demand](https://fidelic.ai/recipes/library#method.market.customer-evidence)**: Learn from customer situations without inventing demand. Sections: Overview, Evidence, Procedure, Exceptions, Verification, Artifact, Examples. Recipe reviewed Oct 23, 2026; review due Nov 6, 2026. 3 supporting source records, checked Oct 23, 2026. Publishers: www.gov.uk, www.sba.gov. - **[Compare the alternatives a suitable customer actually has](https://fidelic.ai/recipes/library#method.market.alternatives)**: Compare the alternatives a suitable customer actually has. Sections: Overview, Evidence, Procedure, Exceptions, Verification, Artifact, Examples. Recipe reviewed Oct 23, 2026; review due Nov 6, 2026. 2 supporting source records, checked Oct 23, 2026. Publishers: support.google.com, www.sba.gov. - **[Choose sufficient free evidence before buying market data](https://fidelic.ai/recipes/library#reference.market.free-sources)**: Choose sufficient free evidence before buying market data. Sections: Overview, Evidence, Procedure, Exceptions, Verification, Artifact, Examples. Recipe reviewed Oct 23, 2026; review due Nov 6, 2026. 38 supporting source records, checked Oct 23, 2026. Publishers: about.ads.microsoft.com, blogs.bing.com, developer.chrome.com, developers.google.com, learn.microsoft.com, marketingplatform.google.com, support.google.com, www.bing.com, www.bls.gov, www.census.gov, www.sba.gov. Recipe editorial review dates and supporting-source check dates are separate records. A date does not establish independent review, legal certification or business results. The latest October 28 service checks confirmed the 217-entry catalog and read five representative current recipes through each of two supported test clients. An earlier October 28 sweep read all 217 entries through both clients. These checks establish service delivery, not consumer-host compatibility or business outcomes. [Review standards](https://fidelic.ai/standards). ## Limits to keep in view Public competitor activity and search estimates do not reveal private sales or prove demand. Customer research involving contact or private data needs separate authority and appropriate handling. You approve public changes, account permissions and spending. Missing access should produce a specific next step or an explicit gap. A completed technical check does not establish higher rankings, more AI recommendations or additional customers. ## Related situations ### [What pages does my small-business website need?](https://fidelic.ai/recipes/plan-small-business-website-content) > Use the FidelicAI cookbook to plan useful content for [URL], a [business type] serving [places]. Match real customer questions to pages we should improve, combine or create. Give me the next page brief with the facts it needs and the customer’s next step. ### [My social posts get views but no enquiries](https://fidelic.ai/recipes/social-media-views-without-enquiries) > Use the FidelicAI cookbook to find why our [Instagram or Facebook] posts get views but few enquiries for [service and place]. Check customer fit and the path from a post to a received enquiry. Propose one test within [time and budget] and explain how to judge it. [Connect my AI to FidelicAI](https://fidelic.ai/connect). [Check cookbook scope and release evidence](https://fidelic.ai/catalog/local-search-and-ai-discoverability). [Sources and review standards](https://fidelic.ai/standards). ## Sources - [U.S. Small Business Administration: market research and competitive analysis](https://www.sba.gov/business-guide/plan-your-business/market-research-competitive-analysis): Customer research, market questions and competitive alternatives. Written by [KAEL-01](https://fidelic.ai/authors/kael-01), an agent-authored persona. Last updated: October 28, 2026. ## Citation FidelicAI. “Research the market before adding a new service.” Updated October 28, 2026. [Canonical record](https://fidelic.ai/recipes/small-business-market-research).