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MenuHow can I validate an app in market that offers a premium service, for which people often use free tools for?
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The first question I have is why would anybody pay for something they can get for free... Unless the free "whatever" is so difficult to get and free ends up being a lot of money (ie time).
If you have a value proposition to take away the pain, then that's a start.
Once you have established value, then you can determine who is willing to pay what for it.
Unfortunately, the question lacks details to provide a substantial answer. I can't help but respond to this question with questions of my own:
- In a general sense, what need does your app fulfill?
- What properties distinguish your app from the free apps?
- Does your app process Personally Identifiable Information?
- Have you performed a risk analysis on your app?
- How much are you willing to spend on testing your app?
I could provide you with information that would assist your testing effort if you could provide additional information. Please consider calling me. Failing that, attempt to rephrase the question, including some non-revealing details.
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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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If you launch a product to a few different countries, does it make sense to do usability testing in all those different countries?
Perhaps. You have to consider how your product is used and how the users will sensorially interact with it. If you have a website, for example, you could probably assume similar US and UK usability -- but now consider layout for Semitic languages which are read right-to-left -- or consider ideographic languages where the ideographs could interact with other graphical elements in a way wholly irrelevant with the languages you're familiar with. If you have a physical product, the question is conceptually the same, but the actions are different. You have to consider how users in a given culture use and interact with products of that sort. Different cultural memes, ways of learning and expectations can effect usability. There are some simple ways to do these things if you have a small budget. You could easily go to craigslist and recruit 10-15 natives of a given country or region. Give them the product or have them use the website (for 60-90 minutes), video it (with their permission of course and for reasonable compensation), and you'll get a potentially useful indicator of usability. If you're P&G or Microsoft, you've got the budget to test against statistically valid sample sizes pretty much everywhere in the world. You don't have that, so you need to use some heuristics. Good luck to you. Should you have any questions, I'd be happy to discuss.SM
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What are some signs my startup may be "too niche" to ever become mainstream?
The easiest answer to this is something a mentor told me a few years ago when I was working on a niche app....she said "do you honestly feel like you could be passionate about this for the next 10 years"? That may not sound like it's relevant but it is...honestly that's the only thing that matters when starting a compay (besides the obvious of is this valuable)...That's the first thing to figure out. Then when I answered and said maybe, she said "do you think that this is the biggest thing you could be doing with your time? Why stop at helping a few thousand people, why not pour 10 years of your life into something that can help millions".....so reframe your question, is my product only helping a few people? Is there something else I could be doing that will help more people? If the answers are obvious then you know what you need to do...back to the drawing board.AL
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What is the best way to validate and monetize this idea?
Validation and monetization - two great questions. See some great tips on how to do validation in this answer: https://clarity.fm/questions/6423/how-do-you-do-market-research (happy to help you plan your specific validation process) Regarding monetization - the most suitable business models in this case would be commission / intermediate fee taken from either the advertisers or the owners of the advertising spaces (spas, coworking spaces) or both of them. Good luck I've successfully helped over 350 entrepreneurs, startups and businesses, and I would be happy to help you. After scheduling a call, please send me some background information so that I can prepare in advance - thus giving you maximum value for your money. Take a look at the great reviews I’ve received: https://clarity.fm/assafben-davidAB
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