Surveying your prospective customer base

I don't see a lot of discusson on here about the topic of surveying - although most advanced marketers understand and agree that surveying is a very important part of marketing, but particularly with information product developers.

I have been as guilty as anyone else about running down the road with a product development idea and a market in mind, but I am starting to do a lot more surveying before I get too excited about anything.

SO... I got a surveymonkey.com account and have been working it hard these days -- with some really surprising results!! On one hand, me, the analytical guy, breaks down problems into smaller, bite-sized chunks, and comes up with a totally workable, bulletproof solution -- that may solve the problem, but many times isn't what the customer is interested in buying.

It's saving me a lot of headache and frustration actually, because I don't have an ego about what I develop as much anymore. I just try to find the balance between what people are willing to pay for and what will actually solve their problems.

I was curious to know what my fellow Warrior's experience level is with surveying their markets before and after creating products (any... ebooks, etc...), and how this has affected your development and ultimately your sales.