When I started my first business, my idea of market research was to spend many hours checking out the competition online and then asking my friends and family what they thought of my business idea. That was all I thought was involved when you wanted to validate your business idea. Come to think of it, I didn’t even ask that many people.
I now know that market research is a super important step and it doesn’t need to be difficult or expensive. To validate your business idea you don’t need the perfect business name, you don’t need a logo and you don’t need a website however you DO need to put yourself out there.
Online research is hugely convenient and you can learn an awful lot however to give your business its greatest chance of success you really need to take the next step. You have to test your business idea with real people.
In a lot of ways this step on your business journey can be the hardest. To put your new and less than perfect idea out into the world, in front of strangers, can be scary. So scary that you might convince yourself that it’s not necessary, practical, or possible. I get it. A lot is riding on the success of your business idea. What if people don’t like it?
When you choose to be a business owner you choose to be vulnerable. You put your heart and soul into your work and then you put that work out into the world. And then you repeat this process over and over again. There are few things more confronting and challenging.
That challenge begins for you now. Ask yourself, if you don’t have the courage to put yourself out there now, when you have nothing to lose, will you be able to do it when you’ve started your business and you have a lot more riding on it?
So now let’s talk about real-life market research, meaning research involving real people and real potential customers, not just people who are friends and family. How to truly validate your business idea.
This is a time to step way outside your comfort zone. The time to find out whether your idea has potential, whether it needs tweaking or whether it’s time to go back to the drawing board.
By doing this research you will be trying to answer these questions:
- do people actually want my product/service?
- does it excite them?
- will they tell others about it?
- who are the people who want my product/service?
- where do these people hang out?
- how can I reach them in the future?
- how much are they happy to pay for my product or service?
- how does my product or service make them feel?
- what problem does my product or service solve?
How to validate your business idea with real people
Below is a list of options for validating your product or service. Think outside the box and don’t be too picky. If you choose one of these methods for validating your business idea it doesn’t mean that you need to keep using that method to sell your product or service in the long term. Think of this process as a short-term experiment.
If your business idea is to sell a product
Ideally, to validate your business idea, and test whether people are interested in buying your product you will need to either order a small amount of the product or have a small sample of the product made. If this isn’t possible, an alternative is to pre-sell the product and advise of a delivery time in the future that you will be able to meet.
Here are some ideas for testing whether people are interested in buying your product:
Sell a sample of your thing on Facebook, Gumtree or Etsy
Run a crowd funding campaign to find out how many people are willing to invest in your idea. Take a look at Kickstarter to see how it works.
Use a service like Survey Monkey to ask your potential customers questions about your product
Scope out interest in your product in your local community by advertising your thing at the gym, local school, clubs, etc
If your business idea is to sell a service
List your services on websites such as Freelancer or Upwork
Run a crowd funding campaign to find out how many people are willing to invest in your idea. Take a look at Kickstarter to see how it works.
Create a report, e-book, video or recording that shows a sample of your expertise and what you will be offering your clients. Set up a Facebook page for your business and a landing page (a 1 page website where people can enter their email address and get your free offering). Invest in some Facebook ads to drive traffic to your landing page and then see how many people sign up.
Sell it before you create it
Use a service like Survey Monkey to ask your potential customers questions about your service
Scope out interest in your product in your local community by advertising your thing at the gym, local school, clubs, etc
Keep in mind that your product or service will not be finalised or perfect yet. That doesn’t matter. If no one is interested in your imperfect product then the chances of them being interested in your perfect product are pretty slim. Better to find that out now rather than a year down the road.
Methods to validate your business idea
Also keep in mind when you validate your business idea, you want to find out whether people are willing to pay for your product or service. They may love it and really want it … however not enough that they will pay money for it.
If this happens then consider, is there a problem with your product or service or are you just targeting the wrong people?
