Product and service ideas are more likely to succeed if they are informed by customer needs. Muir Wood & Co is a research consultancy that helps you to ask the right questions.
We design and run mixed method research to understand your customers in depth and find opportunities to improve your products and services.
For companies, charities and the public sector
We can add our research muscle to your client design projects to ensure your creative work succeeds with its users.
For creative and strategic agencies
We’ll identify and validate your startup’s value proposition qualitatively, before you have enough user data to measure fit.
For startups, VCs and accelerators
We have worked with clients across a deliberately broad variety of sectors and problems. We are skilled at rapidly immersing ourselves in new topics and clients value the fresh perspective we can bring. We also regularly partner up with agencies to boost their product research capacity.
"Muir Wood & Co are the perfect partners for businesses doing research for the first time."
“This research gave us a more nuanced understanding of our reader needs and is already impacting our project roadmap and design strategy.”
"Not only did Andrew and Maia deliver valuable insights and product implications but they steered the team through the process, engaging them at every turn and ensuring even greater appetite for research going forward."
"Muir Wood & Co are the perfect partners for businesses doing research for the first time."
“This research gave us a more nuanced understanding of our reader needs and is already impacting our project roadmap and design strategy.”
"Not only did Andrew and Maia deliver valuable insights and product implications but they steered the team through the process, engaging them at every turn and ensuring even greater appetite for research going forward."
Our team is a lean but dynamic duo of cousin-colleagues (or "cuzleagues" as Andrew likes to say, Maia is not convinced).
Thanks to some prolonged schmoozing, we also have a network of freelancers and agencies around the world, so can scale things up when needed.
MEng, PhD, CMRS
Andrew is a research craftsman, honing his approach for over 12 years. He started with a PhD on the evolution of consumer products, but then the alluring scent of post-it notes and sharpies lured him into the world of commercial product strategy. He believes that research can unlock innovation across teams and disciplines. And he thinks the best projects are fast, affordable, collaborative and fun.
He has a gift for quickly grasping new topics and sectors and seeing connections between them. His passion for making, and training in design allow him to translate research into action. As a 4-time best man and 1-time wedding celebrant, he loves a story, and searches for new immersive ways to explain customer needs and behaviours.
BA (Oxon), MSc
Maia is in her element in the field, whether she’s nosing in fridges in the name of ethnography, or putting people at ease to open up about their fears. Degrees in Human Sciences and International Development mean she is endlessly thoughtful about what makes people tick and how to design a world that works better for them.
When Maia isn’t exploring new topics for clients, she still looks for ways to expand her understanding of the world. She recently cycled from the UK to Turkey, with the greatest joy coming from meeting people in the most in-between places. That ability to plan out several months in the saddle comes in handy when she diligently ensures that our research operations run smoothly.
News and musings from the team.
We want to know how people who do research are improving their skills. Whether you’re a university-trained researcher or you’ve picked it up as part of your job, we’d love you to complete this 5 minute survey.
Just like eating spicy food, everyone has a different tolerance for spending money on things. Here’s how to get this info out of your customers and use it to find out their willingness to pay for your product.
The next tool to add to your price research belt: work out which of your features customers are most likely to pay for. Hopefully your product isn't all sprinkles and no ice cream!