12 Research Tactics That Reveal What Your Engineering Clients Value Most

Ever watched an engineer present 47 slides of specs and thought, “I really don’t care.” We’ve been there and so have your clients. They want the solution, not a crash course in post-graduate level thermodynamics.

Market research saves everyone from glazed-over eyes. When you know what your engineering clients actually care about, you can cut the extra technical details and focus on the product benefits that make them say, “Yes, that’s exactly what we need.”

Here are 12 practical tactics to uncover what your engineering clients truly value, so you can create marketing materials that speak to them: 

1. Client Interviews With a Technical Focus

Sit down with existing clients and ask direct, technical questions:

• Which features mattered most in your decision?

• What challenges did our solution solve that competitors didn’t?

• What nearly stopped you from moving forward?

Engineers love details. They’ll give you more than “it works.” They’ll tell you about tolerances, downtime, maintenance headaches, and reliability. Those details are marketing gold.

2. Post-Project Debriefs

Don’t let projects end with a handshake. Schedule a structured debrief. Ask what went right, what slowed them down, and what they’d change. This is where you’ll uncover the hidden values: maybe they loved your responsiveness more than your spec sheet.

3. Competitor Comparisons From Buyers

When an engineering client chooses you over a competitor, ask why. Was it costly? Was it lead time? Was it how clearly you explained the data? Competitor context helps you position your strengths more directly.

4. Support Ticket Analysis

Support logs and service requests reveal what matters most. If 40% of tickets are about installation ease, that’s not just a tech issue. It’s a buying criterion. Fix it, highlight it, and market it.

5. Usage Data and Analytics

For software and connected products, track what features clients use most often. That’s what they value. If 80% of users lean on one feature, you know where to focus your messaging.

6. Win/Loss Analysis

Every proposal you win or lose is data. Document reasons for both. If you’re losing deals on pricing but winning on reliability, you know reliability is your key selling point — and your pricing story needs work.

7. Procurement Team Feedback

Engineers influence specs, but procurement signs contracts. Ask procurement what tips the scales: compliance, warranty, supply chain stability? Pairing engineering input with procurement priorities gives you the full picture of value.

8. Industry Forums and Online Communities

Engineers talk to each other online about products, failures, and hacks. Mining forums, LinkedIn groups, or Reddit threads reveal unfiltered opinions about what they actually care about in tools and suppliers.

9. Field Observations

Shadow clients on-site. Watch how they use your product or service in real-world conditions. You’ll spot frustrations they’d never mention in an interview and see which features make their workday easier.

10. Structured Surveys

Keep surveys short and technical. Instead of “How satisfied are you overall?” ask:

• “Rate the importance of [feature X] in your purchase decision.”

• “Rank the top three challenges this product solves for you.”

  
  

Structured data makes it easy to quantify what matters most across clients.

11. Conference and Trade Show Conversations

Engineering clients often drop their guard at industry events. Pay attention to the questions they ask at booths and the presentations they crowd into. That’s real-time research on emerging priorities.

12. Social Listening for Technical Keywords

Monitor social media, news, and press releases for mentions of engineering pain points: downtime, sustainability, and efficiency. Track what’s trending in your niche. If every competitor is shouting about energy savings and clients are engaging, you know where attention is headed.

When you build your messaging on research instead of assumptions, you stop guessing at what impresses engineers. You start speaking their language. That’s how you win contracts and keep them.

At Borrowed Pen, we specialize in translating research into messaging that engineers actually trust. Work with us, and we’ll turn raw data into clear positioning that shows clients why your solution is the smartest choice.