China Market Research Brief: A Template for Commissioning Useful Work

A useful China market research brief starts with the decision your team needs to make. Before asking an agency to study a category, explain what you could change: the customer group you will investigate, the proposition you will test, or the investment you are deciding whether to make.

This guide provides a commissioning template for international brands, founders and agencies. It is the document you send before agreeing a study. Whatson.red also uses “research brief” for its English findings deliverable; the deliverable format shows that separate output.

Turn a business ambition into an answerable question

“Understand China” gives a researcher little basis for choosing evidence. Start with a sentence that connects uncertainty to action: “We need to decide which of two product propositions to take into customer interviews, because our current positioning was developed for another market.”

Then list the questions that would change that decision. Which situations make the product relevant? What alternatives should interviews explore? Which product claims need explanation? Ask the supplier to identify questions its proposed evidence cannot answer.

B2B International's briefing guidance recommends supplying background, product and market boundaries, objectives, timing and budget. A written brief also gives competing suppliers a common starting point. Those general commissioning principles inform the template below; the China-specific choices are our suggested application, rather than a prescribed industry standard.

For the wider launch context, see what to research before a China market entry.

Define the audience without assuming you already know it

Name the customer and use situation you want to investigate. Separate what is established from what is provisional. An existing customer database might establish who buys in your home market; it does not establish who will buy in China.

Specify geographic boundaries rather than treating “Chinese consumers” as a recruitment instruction. If you want to compare particular cities, explain why and ask the supplier whether the proposed method can support that comparison. Public content may not establish where its author lives or whether they meet a buyer profile. Missing location should remain missing.

Give the supplier product descriptions and the alternatives you already consider relevant. Ask it to challenge that list. Avoid requiring research to confirm a preferred launch story.

Copy this commissioning template

Use the fields below in a document shared with prospective suppliers. Replace the prompts with your own information; leave uncertainties visible.

The budget field is a constraint to discuss, not a request for a promised commercial return. The Market Research Society guide to buying research treats research procurement as requiring specialist judgment and warns that expanding objectives can overextend the planned work. Keep essential questions separate from optional extensions.

Specify the evidence needed, then discuss the method

A brief should tell the researcher what you need to learn while leaving room to propose a suitable design. A request for “a survey” or “one thousand posts” does not explain why that evidence would answer your question.

If your question concerns language, comparisons or objections visible in public content, a bounded Xiaohongshu study can be proposed with explicit coverage and selection rules. If you need a population estimate, causal explanation or observed purchases, ask what additional evidence would be required. A collection of selected posts cannot establish those answers simply by becoming larger.

Our Chinese consumer research methods guide compares the roles of interviews, surveys, social content, marketplace reviews and transaction data. Ask each supplier to explain both its method's contribution and its limits. No method should be accepted solely because it produces an impressive-looking dashboard.

An illustrative brief for a product team

The following is an invented planning example. It describes no client, collected posts, measured preferences or research results.

Imagine a company that makes insulated lunch containers. It has two candidate propositions: convenience while carrying lunch and ease of cleaning after use. The team needs to choose what to explore in interviews before adapting its product messaging.

Its commissioning brief could say:

We want to understand which use situations, product comparisons and unanswered questions should inform our next interview guide. Our assumptions about commuting and cleaning are provisional. Please propose a bounded review of relevant public Chinese-language content, explain how queries and sources will be selected, and identify what we would still need to ask people directly.

That request leaves room for contrary evidence. A source might discuss carrying soup, storing food or replacing a damaged seal rather than either proposed message. The researcher should be able to flag these possibilities without being required to call them common consumer needs.

The team could request an English synthesis with original-language context, traceable sources, unresolved questions and an interview discussion outline. It should also state that this phase will not estimate market size, rank launch cities, predict sales or validate product performance. Those are separate evidence requirements, not missing slides to fill with inference.

Compare proposals on the same decision

Before comparing prices, check whether the proposals answer the same brief. One supplier may offer exploratory content research; another may include participant recruitment. Different evidence, access and review responsibilities make those different scopes.

Ask each supplier to show how a priority question connects to a method and an output. For a public-content study, request the proposed time window, query development, inclusion and exclusion criteria, treatment of promotional material, and handling of deleted or inaccessible sources. Agree how translated passages will preserve relevant context.

For participant research, ask the supplier to explain recruitment, consent and appropriate handling arrangements. Resolve applicable legal and professional requirements with qualified advisers before commissioning work that needs them; this template does not establish compliance or permission to collect data.

Use the same written clarification questions for all shortlisted suppliers. Record changes to scope, price and timing together so the final agreement reflects the same understanding.

Agree what completion means

Define acceptance around the agreed work: the priority questions are addressed, evidence can be traced, uncertainties are explicit, and the team can distinguish findings from recommendations. Agree how scope changes and inaccessible evidence will be handled before the deadline arrives.

Do not make a positive launch recommendation an acceptance condition. Useful research may narrow a claim, reveal that the evidence is insufficient, or point to a different next study. Those outcomes can still answer the commissioning question.

For a completed deliverable checklist, see what a Xiaohongshu research report should contain. Keep the commissioning brief and final report connected by the decision they serve.

Bring the decision to the first conversation

You do not need a finished methodology to start. Bring the product category, the decision, what you already know and the constraints you face. A scoping conversation should make the remaining questions clearer.

Discuss your China consumer research question with Whatson.red Intelligence. We can discuss whether a source-linked English research brief fits the question and where additional evidence would be needed.