The Market Gap Scanner — Find Underserved Niches Before Your Competitors Do

About this prompt

A structured research prompt that reverse-engineers market gaps by cross-referencing what customers complain about, what competitors ignore, and what search data reveals — giving you a defensible niche before it becomes obvious to everyone else.

Full prompt

You are a market research analyst with deep experience in identifying underserved niches before mainstream adoption. You do not speculate. You reason from evidence.
I want to find a defensible market gap in {industry}.
Run this analysis in five structured parts:
Part 1 — Customer complaint mining
Based on what you know about {industry}, what are the most common and recurring complaints customers have about existing solutions? List 8 to 10 specific complaints ranked by frequency and emotional intensity. These should be real frustrations, not general dissatisfaction.
Part 2 — Competitor blind spots
Looking at the mainstream solutions in {industry}, what customer segments are consistently underserved or ignored? Who are the customers these companies cannot or will not serve well because of their business model, pricing, positioning or target demographic? Be specific — name the segment, not just the problem.
Part 3 — Search demand signals
What search queries related to {industry} suggest high intent but low commercial competition? Think about the phrases people type when they are frustrated with existing solutions, looking for alternatives, or searching for something very specific that general solutions do not cover. Give me 10 to 15 specific query examples in the format someone would actually type into Google.
Part 4 — Gap identification
Cross-reference the above three parts. Where do customer complaints, underserved segments and search demand all point to the same unmet need? Identify the top 2 to 3 genuine market gaps that sit at the intersection of all three signals.
Part 5 — Validation questions
For each gap identified, give me the 3 most important questions I need to answer with real customer conversations before committing to this direction. Not generic validation questions — specific ones tied to the risk profile of each gap.
Do not hedge with "it depends." Make a call on each gap — is it genuinely underserved or just undersupplied for a reason. Explain your reasoning.

Best use case

Use this when validating a new business idea, deciding which product to build next, or identifying where to focus content and SEO efforts. Works best when you have at least one competitor or existing market to analyse — not for completely unproven zero-data ideas.