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MenuMarket Validation Survey
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These are good questions to start with. I'd recommend rephrasing the first question to "How likely would you be to use this app?" (subtle but important difference - it can be "helpful" but they may not use it). And rephrasing the second to "How much would you be willing to pay for this app?" (again, idea vs. intent).
You can also get a sense for Net Promoter Score (NPS) by asking "On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely would you be to recommend this app to a friend?" (Learn how to calculate NPS here: http://www.netpromoter.com/why-net-promoter/know)
First of all, the questions asked by you is more about validating your product than market. Hence, you need to be clear with the objective of the survey. Do you want to validate the market or the product?
If you want to assess the need of your product then you need to undertake a "Need Assessment" survey.
If you're struggling with pricing your product or adding feature (s) per pricing plan then you need to analyze the market/competition to be able to benchmark against.
Is there anything specific you're looking at? Feel free to reach out with more clarity to get clarity. All the best!!
Great answers so far but I wanted to add another perspective:
One of the assumptions that is core to surveys being valuable is that answering "I want this" and putting in your credit card are two different things. In reality, there is quite some difference.
In order to truly tell whether an offer resonates, nothing substitutes for the real thing. This is sort of off the beaten path for lean startup but has been used in quantitative direct response marketing effectively for decades.
You could easily be getting in front of real customers and following their feet, not their lips with the budget you have allocated for this survey. At .95/response you could most likely get more respondents as well.
By split testing - you can get insight into key benefits, price points and anything else you could possibly want with REAL intent being measured by conversion.
In addition, you can build a pre-order list and get a few steps ahead on your customer acqusition channel at the same time.
You'll need a bit of knowledge in CRO, advertising and copywriting but for something like this it's all 101 level stuff. Give me a shout if you're interested and need a hand!
It is essential to understand that a product should go through Market Validation Survey for these questions are too abstract in nature and does not reflect the true nature of the product you are about to launch. These surveys are highly essential. Keep the following in mind:
1. Create clear objectives:
1. Understand if its core offering is priced appropriately
a) The data (output of answer options) needs to allow Modify to clearly indicate where people think the current pricing is too high, too low, or about right
b) Understand brand recognition (unaided and aided) in the market to get a sense of how they should position themselves in marketing/PR (and be able to cut this data based on watch/accessory budgets and demographics)
2. Find out which types of customers are most likely to purchase its product
a) Where are the demographic sweet spots in terms of pricing and interest?
3. Get custom market stats it can use to build a TAM (total addressable market), sanity check its market understanding and build customized data for presentations, potentially for fundraising
a. How frequently do people buy watches?
b. About how much do people spend on watches?
c. How likely are people to purchase a watch online?
4. Understand key info around its new watch subscription offering to validate whether this is a business initiative it should focus on
a) Are people interested in a subscription offering that allows them to get new watches on a regular or semi-regular basis?
b) How much should they charge?
c) How frequently do people want new watches?
2. Determine your target audience: For Modify, they are asking questions related to watches. Pretty much everyone in the world has one or wears one, particularly those who can afford Internet connectivity (project sample base/target population).
Sample size: 1,000 people should be enough to give us a sample size with high confidence
Targeting: US, gender balanced. We want this to look pretty like the US population. Everyone is a potential watch buyer that Modify wants to hear from.
3. Create a great survey:
Following is a sample survey of how Modify can achieve its feedback objectives by eliciting actionable data to help inform the business decisions it is considering. The survey questions are shown below without the multiple-choice options for answers belong to a Watch company, this is to give you an idea how to frame your questions.
WATCH BASICS
1) Do you wear a watch on a daily or frequent basis?
2) Approximately how many watches do you own?
3) How often do you purchase watches?
WATCH PRICING AND PURCHASING
4) On average, how much do you spend when purchasing a new watch?
5) Have you ever purchased a watch online?
6) How did you purchase your last watch?
7) When you think of watch brands, which brands come to mind?
AIDED BRAND AWARENESS
8.) Which of the following watch brands are you familiar with? (Select all that apply.) [randomize]
• Casio, Modify, Rolex, Omega, Cartier, Tag Heuer, Movado, Diesel, Timex, Starck, Fossil, none of the above, Other (please specify)
9) Based on the information above, how likely would you be to purchase a Modify Watch?
10) About how much would you be willing to pay for a Modify Watch face and band?
MODIFY PRICING
11) Modify prices its watches based on the price of a watch face ($25) and the price of a band ($15). The bands and faces are interchangeable, so various combinations can be created for customers who purchase multiple bands and/or faces. Do you think that Modify watch face and band pricing is expensive or inexpensive?
12) Modify has recently created a subscription offering where customers can sign up for a subscription to receive new watches periodically. Customers also receive a discount on each watch as part of the subscription package. How likely would you be to sign up for a subscription offering to receive new watches periodically at discounted prices?
INTERESTED IN SUBSCRIPTION
13) If you were to sign up for a watch subscription package, how frequently would you want to receive new watches?
14) If you were to sign up for a watch subscription package, who would you like to choose the watches you receive?
15) How much of a discount off the base pricing for watch faces ($25) and bands ($15) would you require to sign up for a watch subscription package?
4. Uncovering Critical Insights:
After launching the survey, results came in immediately. After just a couple of days, Modify was ready to begin analysing its data, finding the key insights they needed to act on and help grow their business. Since Modify used sound survey creation principles, the results and data are actionable and a key step in the process could begin. The topic we at SurveyMonkey ask a lot of customers or potential customers, and even ourselves, before, during and after running projects is, “Now that you have answers and data, what are you going to do with it? So, how is Modify going to use this data to help grow their business and make better decisions?
Besides if you do have any questions give me a call: https://clarity.fm/joy-brotonath
Related Questions
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How can I become an idea person, as a professional title?
One word: Royalties This means you generate the idea and develop it enough to look interesting to a larger company who would be willing to pay you a royalty for your idea. This happens all the time. Rock stars, authors and scientists routinely license their creative ideas to other companies who pay them a royalty. Anyone can do it. Your business, therefore, would be a think tank. You (and your team, if you have one) would consider the world's problems, see what kinds of companies are trying to solve those problems, and then develop compelling solutions that they can license from you. You have to be able to sell your idea and develop a nice presentation, a little market research and an understanding of basic trademark and patent law. The nice thing about doing this is that if you develop enough cool ideas you will have royalties coming in from a lot of different sources, this creates a stable, passive revenue stream that requires little or no work to maintain. Start in your spare time and plan on the process taking 3-5 years. Set a goal to have a few products in the market that provide enough revenue (royalties) to cover your basic living expenses. Then you can quit your day job and dedicate more time and increase the momentum. A good idea business should have dozens, if not hundreds of license contracts generating royalties. It's possible to pull this off. And it is a fun job (I'm speaking from experience).MM
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What is the average series A funding round at pre revenue valuation for a enterprise start up w/cutting edge tech on verge of our first client.
With all respect to Dan, I'm not seeing anything like that. You said "pre-revenue." If it's pre-revenue and enterprise, you don't have anything proven yet. You would have to have an insanely interesting story with a group of founders and execs on board with ridiculous competitive advantage built in. I have seen a few of those companies. It's more like $3m-$5m pre. Now, post-revenue is different. I've seen enterprise plays with $500k-$1m revenue/yr, still very early (because in the enterprise space that's not a lot of customers yet), getting $8m-$15m post in an A-round. I do agree there's no "average." Finally, you will hit the Series A Crunch issue, which is that for every company like yours with "cutting edge tech" as-yet-unproven, there's 10 which also have cutting edge tech except they have customers, revenue, etc.. So in this case, it's not a matter of valuation, but a matter of getting funded at all!JC
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How much equity should I ask as a CMO in a startup?
Greater risk = greater equity. How likely is this to fail or just break even? If you aren't receiving salary yet are among 4-6 non-founders with equivalent sweat investment, all of whom are lower on the totem pole than the two founders, figure out: 1) Taking into account all likely outcomes, what is the most likely outcome in terms of exit? (ex: $10MM.) Keep in mind that 90%+ of all tech startups fail (Allmand Law study), and of those that succeed 88% of M&A deals are under $100MM. Startups that exit at $1B+ are so rare they are called "unicorns"... so don't count on that, no matter how exciting it feels right now. 2) Figure out what 1% equity would give you in terms of payout for the most likely exit. For example, a $10MM exit would give you $100k for every 1% you own. 3) Decide what the chance is that the startup will fail / go bankrupt / get stuck at a $1MM business with no exit in sight. (According to Allman Law's study, 10% stay in business - and far fewer than that actually exit). 4) Multiply the % chance of success by the likely outcome if successful. Now each 1% of equity is worth $10k. You could get lucky and have it be worth millions, or it could be worth nothing. (With the hypothetical numbers I'm giving here, including the odds, you are working for $10k per 1% equity received if the most likely exit is $10MM and the % chance of failure is 90%.) 5) Come up with a vesting path. Commit to one year, get X equity at the end. If you were salaried, the path would be more like 4 years, but since it's free you deserve instant equity as long as you follow through for a reasonable period of time. 6) Assuming you get agreement in writing from the founders, what amount of $ would you take in exchange for 12 months of free work? Now multiply that by 2 to factor in the fact that the payout would be far down the road, and that there is risk. 7) What percentage share of equity would you need in order to equal that payout on exit? 8) Multiply that number by 2-3x to account for likely dilution over time. 9) If the founders aren't willing to give you that much equity in writing, then it's time to move on! If they are, then decide whether you're willing to take the risk in exchange for potentially big rewards (and of course, potentially empty pockets). It's a fascinating topic with a lot of speculation involved, so if you want to discuss in depth, set up a call with me on Clarity. Hope that helps!RD
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What does it mean to 'grandfather you in' in the tech world?
It stands for allowing someone to continue doing or use something that is normally no longer permitted (due to changing regulations, internal rules etc.)OO
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How was SnapChat able to grow so quickly?
I'm answering your question assuming that you hope to be able to replicate it's own success in your own mobile app. There are a couple of factors responsible for it's growth that are instructive to anyone building a mobile app. "Leveraging the intimacy and privacy of the mobile phone." We now have an *intimate* relationship with our phone like no other device in the history of technology. Every internet company that started before around 2010 has built their core interactions around "the old web" one which was accessed primarily via a browser on a computer. Companies that start with a clean slate, should be building their interactions around how to do whatever the app is supposed to do while leveraging what is unique to people's relationship to their mobile devices. Photo-sharing has become a core part of the way we communicate now. Snapchat built something that provided an experience that leveraged the feeling of privacy and intimacy that is unique to mobile. "Provided an escape from the "maturity" of other online services." Too many parents, aunts, uncles and other "old people" have encroached into the social networks of teens and young people. As a result, they've had a desire to find places to express themselves in places inaccessible by older generations. An important distinction is that it's not just parents and relatives that young people are trying to avoid, but also employers & colleges who are increasingly using "mature" social networks to review applicants. "Leveraged PR even bad PR" The fact that the app got so much press about it being used to sext was perfect PR for the company, as it essentially reinforced the brand experience that it has today. Essentially, "if it's safe enough to send a sext, it's safe for any kind of communication I want to have." And although the safety and security of Snapchat is actually not as advertised, it still enjoys the reputation of having less impact than any primarily web-based service. Building a successful mobile application is one of the hardest challenges to face designers, programmers and entrepreneurs in the history of writing software. Happy to talk to you if you're considering building a mobile app, about what I've learned about the "table stakes" for success.TW
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