MCP Workflow Examples for AI Market Research

These examples assume you have connected the Minds MCP server for ChatGPT, Claude, and Cursor. If not, follow the Minds MCP setup guide first.

Guided Study Confirmation Workflow

For a broader task, multiple questions, a visual asset, structured outputs, or an explicit research method, the assistant follows this sequence:

User request
  -> plan_study_questions (draft only)
  -> present captured intent, main source, questions, methods, and outputs
  -> ask every returned confirmation question
  -> plan_study_questions again if the user answers or changes anything
  -> explicit user confirmation of the exact revision
  -> run_study_questions
  -> get_study_run until collection settles
  -> get_study_summary

The model must not silently approve its own questions or method. Keep simple Studies simple. Check list_research_methods: Conjoint and the other available quantitative methods execute their registered designs and calculations; advanced methods require explicit opt-in. Review any proposed fallback before confirming the plan. For an asset already attached to a Study question, study_heatmap reads or starts its separate visual analysis. Report the evidence actually returned.

The original plan_study_questions.request is planner input and is not sent verbatim to Minds. The preview labels the exact proposed respondent-visible question text; after confirmation, get_study_run exposes the confirmed or server-prepared question set as a visibility audit. By contrast, treat all text in a direct ask_study.question as respondent-visible input: the system may classify or reformat it, but any part can reach the Minds and influence their answers. Keep planner and MCP-client orchestration notes outside direct questions.

At the execution boundary, a plan_limited response means nothing was started: explain the Study-answer limit and required upgrade. During polling, status: plan_limited means the processor preserved partial answers but stopped the remaining questions at the paywall. Never call either case complete, and never hide it behind a generic error. After an upgrade, use a follow-up run for only the unanswered questions.

This lifecycle plans research, not every Study action. A standalone “export this” request routes to export_study. “Show the same result differently” reads the existing Study or summary and changes presentation without queueing new respondents. Only create a new plan when the requested output changes what evidence the Study must collect.

Consumer Research Workflow

A typical workflow for a brand team researching a product launch:

Step 1: Create Consumer Personas

"Create five consumer personas for our skincare launch:
 - 'Lena, 22, Berlin' — Gen Z student, eco-conscious, discovers brands on TikTok
 - 'Maya, 19, London' — retail worker, trend-driven, shops based on peer recommendations
 - 'Aisha, 24, NYC' — junior designer, budget-conscious, cross-references Reddit reviews
 - 'Sarah, 35, Munich' — part-time teacher, mom of two, safety-first buyer
 - 'Jessica, 38, Chicago' — marketing manager, mom, trusts dermatologists over influencers"

Step 2: Organize into Demographic Audiences

"Create an Audience called 'Gen Z Women (18-25)' with Lena, Maya, and Aisha.
Create another Audience called 'Millennial Moms (30-42)' with Sarah and Jessica."

Step 3: Create a Research Study

"Create a Study called 'Sustainable Skincare Launch Study' with both Audiences"

Step 4: Run Survey Questions

"Plan one launch-research question block for the Study with these sections:
1. Price sensitivity: On a scale of 1-10, how likely are you to switch to a sustainable skincare brand if it costs 20% more?
2. Discovery: Where do you typically discover new skincare products?
3. Switching barriers: What would make you stop buying from your current skincare brand?
Show me the complete plan for confirmation, then run all three questions together."

Step 5: Analyze & Export

"Show me the analytics for the Sustainable Skincare Study"

"Export the Study as a PDF report for the brand team"

Use Cases

Product Concept Testing

Create Studies with target consumer Audiences to test product concepts, packaging, and naming before investing in production. Compare reactions across Audiences instantly.

Pricing Research

Survey synthetic consumers on willingness to pay at different price points. Identify the sweet spot where value perception meets margin targets.

Brand Perception Audit

Build Studies containing your target Audiences. Ask about brand awareness, trust, and purchase intent in one cohesive question block. Compare your brand against competitors through consumer eyes.

Campaign Message Testing

Test ad copy, taglines, and visual concepts with synthetic target audiences before committing media spend. Identify which messages resonate with which segments.

Market Entry Research

Entering a new market? Create consumer personas for the target region and test product-market fit, cultural sensitivities, and channel preferences.

Example Conversations

Quick Consumer Insight

You: "I need to understand how Gen Z and millennials in Europe feel about subscription-based skincare. Create one Audience for each segment and plan one cohesive Study asking what would convince them to subscribe."

AI Assistant: Drafts the Minds and audience structure, creates a Study, presents the exact proposed research question(s), and requests confirmation when the request expands into a broader Study. After execution, it reports the actual returned grouped responses without pre-writing a conclusion.

Expert Consultation

You: "Talk to my Brand Strategy expert about positioning a premium organic baby care line in the German market."

AI Assistant: Uses chat_with_mind to query the expert Mind and presents its actual response, preserving any returned citations. It labels the output as synthetic expert perspective rather than independent legal or regulatory advice.

Competitive Analysis

You: "Create a Study with 'Loyal Customers' Audiences for our top 3 competitors. Plan one block asking what they love most about their current brand and what frustrates them."

AI Assistant: Creates private synthetic Audiences, confirms the comparative multi-question research plan, runs the Study once, and reports only differences supported by the returned responses and calculations.

Automation guardrails

• Keep new Audiences and Studies private unless the user explicitly requests a public link.
• Planning does not start research. Confirm the exact latest revision before run_study_questions.
• Poll status tools instead of treating a timeout or elapsed duration as completion.
• Require explicit confirmation immediately before lifecycle deletion actions.
• Preserve citations, resource IDs, workspace/shared links, and download links exactly.
• Treat plan_limited before execution as “nothing started” and status: plan_limited during execution as partial, preserved work.
• Use list_research_methods before promising a named method; only executable: true is runnable.
• Do not infer customer findings in advance. The example prompts in this guide describe workflows, not guaranteed conclusions.

For a full routing and safety contract, see the MCP operating guide for agents.

When get_study_run returns partial, give the user an incomplete-results handoff instead of continuing the polling loop. For example, four settled questions can still include one question answered by only nine of ten Minds. Explain that difference before summarizing: progress.pct tracks question settlement, while progress.partial identifies how many questions have recorded response gaps. Inspect each artifact's outputData.responseCoverage for the expected and received counts and missing Audience/Mind memberships. Historical artifacts without these fields cannot establish full participation. Preserve the answers already collected, identify what is absent, and agree on a separate retry rather than silently replacing the original results.