How do I create a research project?
The short answer: click "Start New Study," type what you want to learn in plain language, answer a few follow-up questions from Plan Mode, review the draft plan, and confirm. Total setup time is 5–10 minutes. The research itself runs in the background.
The four-step creation flow
Step 1 — Click "Start New Study." Available from the homepage and the sidebar.
Step 2 — Describe your question in 1–2 sentences. Examples that work:
"I want to test acceptance of our new smart bracelet with fitness enthusiasts aged 25–40."
"Why are users churning from our language-learning app after week 4?"
"We're considering entering the elderly fitness market. What do we need to know?"
Step 3 — Answer Plan Mode's follow-ups. Usually 3–5 questions about target audience, scope, constraints, and reference materials. Plan Mode is conversational — answer what you can, say "you decide" for the rest.
Step 4 — Review the plan, then confirm. The plan shows you what AI will do: how many personas, what type of interview or discussion, scout or no scout, estimated time, estimated token cost. You can modify the plan, regenerate it entirely, or approve as-is.
What Plan Mode typically asks
You'll get asked roughly the same set of questions regardless of topic. Knowing what they are ahead of time speeds things up.
| Question | Good answer | Vague answer |
|---|---|---|
| Who is your target audience? | "25–35 year-old female office workers in tier-1 cities, drink coffee 3+ times a week" | "Everyone" |
| What aspects matter most? | "Acceptance, pricing sweet spot, packaging" | "Everything" |
| Any constraints? | "Limited budget, want to finish in 2 hours" | "No constraints" |
| Reference materials? | Upload product brief, competitor link, customer interview snippet | None |
You can also proactively mention things like "use a SWOT framework" or "focus on pricing" — Plan Mode will incorporate that.
Three realistic examples
Product test. A coffee startup wants to test a new zero-sugar sparkling coffee. Input: "Test our new zero-sugar sparkling coffee with 25–35 year-old female office workers. We mainly want to know if they'd buy it and at what price." Plan Mode proposes: scout target users on social media, then 5 1-on-1 interviews covering acceptance and pricing, then report. Total: ~3 hours.
Churn analysis. A fitness app wants to understand why users stop using the app after month 3. Input: "Users are churning after month 3. I want to know why and what would bring them back." Plan Mode proposes: interviews with 8 churned personas, comparison with 5 active personas, then report. Total: ~4 hours.
Market entry. A pet food brand wants to enter the senior pet market. Input: "We're thinking of launching senior pet food. What do we need to know about this market?" Plan Mode proposes: market trend scan, social listening for senior pet owners, interviews with 10 senior-pet-owner personas, then report. Total: ~6 hours.
What to do if Plan Mode's plan looks wrong
The plan preview is where you course-correct. Common issues and how to fix them:
Wrong audience. "These are too young / too old / wrong region." Tell Plan Mode what to change. It regenerates the persona list.
Wrong method. You wanted interviews but got a discussion, or vice versa. Specify which and why.
Too expensive. Either narrow the persona count, skip scout, or pick a simpler study type.
Missing an angle. You care about pricing but the plan doesn't test it. Add it explicitly: "I need to test 3 price points."
You can also regenerate from scratch if the first plan is fundamentally off.
After you confirm
The project appears in your project list with status "running." Progress is visible in real-time on the project detail page. You'll get a notification (email and in-product) when it completes — typically 2–4 hours for a basic interview study, 1–2 days for a scout + interview combo.
You can close the tab. The research keeps running on the server. You can return any time.
If you need to stop a study mid-run, click "Cancel" on the project page. Any work done so far is saved. Tokens consumed are not refunded.
What you get when it finishes
A research report with:
- Executive summary — 3–5 findings, prioritized
- Actionable recommendations — concrete next steps
- Full interview transcripts — every conversation, with highlights
- Cross-persona analysis — agreement and disagreement across personas
- Persona cards — who each interviewee was
Available as online view, PDF download, and shareable link.
What you can attach to the brief
Plan Mode accepts:
- Product one-pagers (PDF or doc)
- Competitor links or screenshots
- Customer interview snippets you've already collected
- Pricing structures, packaging mockups
- Past research you've done elsewhere
These go into the conversation context, so Plan Mode and the interviewer AI can refer to specifics rather than asking you to re-explain.
What to skip on a first project
Don't try to nail everything in the first study. A first project is most useful for:
- Learning how Plan Mode and the interviews feel
- Building a baseline persona library you can reuse
- Spotting which questions actually matter
Save the multi-region, multi-round, custom-persona projects for after you've done 2–3 basics.
Related: Plan Mode, Interview, Discussion, Scout