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MenuWhat's the best way to test customer demand before building a product or app?
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You're on the right track. I'm glad to see you getting the steps in the right order.
WHO are potential users of your product?
WHAT problem(s) will your app potentially be solving for them?
HOW much do these potential users value the solution of these problems?
Find your user group of people who would pay for a solution to a problem your app will solve. Get their input. I would do this through a couple stages...the first involving live talking, and the second usage of a basic version of the app once you and they have figured out what its purpose is.
Talk to people.
Talk about your idea, genuinely listen to their comments and feedback.
Once you've done that, build your MVP and always be testing. Always be gathering feedback.
I don't think the FB ads will work because there is nothing of value to the end user.
Happy to help more, book a call and we can discuss a strategy to get your app to market.
-Shaun
That is a great question and one that many, many people ponder about. "if I build it will they come?" I have built over 10 MVP's and did some basic testing to see if I could validate the service. My suggestion would be to put together just enough of an MVP or test site to get your point or value prop across. Then I would set a budget for ads or facebook or some targeted demographic marketing and test the feedback and the conversions. You can actually fake it till you make it. You do not have to always deliver on what you are building. I can speak more to this in a phone call if you want... - JJ
It depends on the specific context of what you're trying to build, but I'd say that one of the best ways to initially test if there's customer demand for your idea is to see if people are already trying to solve the problem you've identified through some other means. To give you an example:
Let's say you want to build an app that helps businesses pre-screen candidates for interviewing -- how do businesses solve the problem today? Well, the hiring manager / HR team might do their own research by calling people who know the candidate and asking for feedback. Or the business might hire a headhunting firm to do this for them.
If people are already be paying someone to solve this specific problem for them, it's a good indicator that your idea might be worth something (provided you can come up with a better solution).
However, even if people are not currently paying someone to get their problem solved (but the pain point still exists, and people are still coming up with solutions of their own) it might be worth evaluating to see if you can come up with a solution + a business model that might work.
I hope this is helpful and let me know if you'd like any additional feedback!
Surveys are a great way to test the demand for your product or app. They provide a wide range of tools and features for measuring responses, so you can really do as much or as little as you want with the results.
One option that doesn't require any design skills and also creates beautiful surveys is Fieldboom (http://www.fieldboom.com/), which can create online forms and surveys in less than five minutes.
You can analyze responses one-by-one and also tag them with labels, star them and mark them as read or unread (just like Gmail). You can also use the simple but powerful reports to understand trends in the feedback you’re receiving.
No matter what survey option you go with, be sure to try it out before moving forward: You want to find the one that works best for you.
Related Questions
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What are good restaurant related questions that I can ask in a survey for the purpose of exemplifying the market to investors?
I think it is a good start. From my experience, people don't really know what they want -- they only think they do. An example of this is when Steve Jobs announced the iPad. There was collective confusion (more so than any other time Apple has done something). Now, we couldn't imagine our world without it. That said, the participants of your survey will likely answer within their comfort zone or what they are familiar with. This is what they *think* they want. If you base your entire business model on what people think they want, you will end up duplicating what they are already accustom to (your competition). Getting a sense of your market is a good thing, but you most have the "secret sauce" that will woo your potential customers away from their routine. I don't know what type of restaurant you are aiming for, be it fast food, causal sit down, unique and interesting, or 5-star quality. Based on that, price becomes very subjective. There is a very unique, one-off restaurant I enjoy visiting when I am traveling in Southern California. It is priced higher than any other restaurant in the area, but I am not paying for the food or even the service. I am paying for the way it makes me feel and the environment they maintain. The participants of your survey will likely not be considering intangibles like this when they answer. Keep this in mind, but don't build your entire business around it. Questions to validate your business model may include: - How important is the selection of adult beverages? - How important is the selection of healthy choices? - How important is a family-friendly environment? - How important is the quality of food (we don't always go where the food is best) - How important is the speed of service? Based on your question, I am guessing you are going for a family-friendly, speedy, inexpensive alternative to McDonalds, Burger King, or Carl Jr's. These companies have deep pockets to fend off upstarts. Your value proposition will need to be rock solid to defend against the giants of the industry.SN
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What's your opinion on using something like usertesting.com vs. real time usability testing (online and offline)?
UserTesting can be instructive in terms of understanding whether people understand your copy, CTAs, and intended flows but generally, I've found the quality of their panels to be pretty low. You're almost always getting people who are not your actual users, so the feedback can only be generally applied as above. I find whatever web analytics package or packages you're using are generally able to provide much better insights. I also really do believe in *real* user panels. Buying pizza or offering small financial incentives to real users to click through new flows where they are talking out loud or answering specific questions is going to give far more actionable insights than anything else. What I like to do is take my best guesses as to what's not working or what I'm looking to improve and then discover/validate via real in-person customer panels. Happy to talk through this in more detail with you in a call.TW
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How do I run a successful closed beta for my web application that is almost done with development?
Create an ideal customer profile. Create some questions that will allow to you survey a potential tester to determine if they fit your profile. Design simple landing page with very clear value proposition that speaks to your ideal customer. Ask for a minimum of information up-front (email), but ask for more info after they commit by submitting the first piece of info. (KISSmetrics does a good job of this on their current website trial signup). Use the their answers to these profiling questions to put the applicants into buckets. Let in the most ideal bucket first, or split them into groups if they're big enough. Try and measure engagement the best you can. Measure qualitative and quantitative data. Schedule calls with your beta testers to find out more, especially with the ones who's user behavior seemed to indicate that they didn't get value from your product. Find out why. Make sure they are indeed your ideal customer. Pick up the phone and get to know your customers inside and out. Meet them in person if possible. Incorporate their feedback quickly and get more feedback. Rinse repeat.DH
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How can you know the habits, likes and dislikes of your customer?
Use Facebook insight. There is a feature in facebook that you can use to identify your potential customer and i'm revealing you a simple trick. Choose a 'public figure' of your niche: as an example if you are a personal trainer you can choose a very known name, then go to facebook insight, in the business manager, and put the name of him. If it's very well known, probably he has a fan page or something, so Facebook will display you the identikit of the people interested. They go VERY IN DEEP: you can see how much they earn, what is the average family, where they live etc Write down these datas. You can use it further also for paid ads.JV
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