Research Assumption Priority Worksheet
Choose which marketing assumption to investigate next by recording the decision it affects, consequences of being wrong and available evidence.
When to use this template
Use this when a founder has many uncertain audience, message and channel ideas but limited capacity to research them all at once.
Choose another approach when: You want a numerical score to disguise guesses as evidence, justify a predetermined answer, or treat low confidence as proof an idea is false.
Gather these inputs
- A specific upcoming marketing decision.
- The assumptions that decision depends on.
- Existing evidence and a feasible ethical way to investigate uncertainty.
Copy and adapt the template
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Worked example
Illustrative example, not a Crany customer result. Replace every example detail with facts you can verify.
A fictional founder assumes designers will share a client checklist through a new login. If wrong, a planned onboarding message promises a workflow clients will resist. Existing interviews discuss document sharing but say nothing about accounts. The priority sheet chooses a small task observation and access-expectation conversation before expanding campaign spend. It does not assign “87% confidence” without a basis. A separate uncertain icon preference is deferred because it is unlikely to change the immediate access offer.
How to use it
- Tie each assumption to an actual upcoming decision.
- Record evidence and consequences before choosing a research activity.
- Define what could change your decision and revisit the priority after the investigation.
Check before using it
- Priority reflects decision consequences, not only enthusiasm.
- The investigation could produce a result that changes the plan.
- Unknowns remain unknown instead of being converted into invented scores.
What to measure
Track decisions changed or clarified by the investigation and unresolved uncertainty. Completing a research activity is not the same as validating every underlying assumption.
Research and sources
Understanding actual goals and context informs this original decision-priority worksheet. The sources do not prescribe its priority categories or a confidence calculation.
- Yale: User Interview Example Questions — checked 2026-10-23. Interview structure, current tasks, past experience, alternative workflows and discovery paths.
- Teresa Torres: Customer Interviews — checked 2026-10-23. Story-based interviews about goals, needs and context; separate discovery from selling.
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