Product validation: validate before you develop
Product validation: validate before you develop
Validation is an essential phase when building a new product. Many businesses often get excited over a new product or service and rush to launch it without conducting thorough groundwork. Even though you may have a general idea of who your customers are, developing your new product or service without research can be a recipe for disaster. You will need to keep guessing what your customers want, and unfortunately, it may not be possible to fulfill their needs without first understanding your customers adequately.
Validation is an ideal risk-prevention measure when building a new product or service. It helps you understand the nitty-gritty of the market dynamics and other essential information, enabling you to make informed decisions. Lack of validation is why many products or services fail after or before launching.
Product validation is a practice to determine if your upcoming product or service has the potential to grow in your targeted market, and it enables you to weigh the interests of your target customers. Product validation entails market research, gathering and analyzing information collected from the research, and testing your product before the launch.
The process is quite intense. It usually includes quantitative and qualitative elements: You talk to potential customers and gather relevant data to create value for them in all product development and launch stages. This enables you to pay attention to all details that can drive the effective management of your product.
Product validation is more than just interacting with a few people, and to achieve an effective outcome, it's best to have a thorough plan in place for the validation. Here is a simple step-by-step guide to conducting product validation.
Before you start your research, know what you want to achieve in the long run. Determining your goals will help you stay focused on your research and gather valuable information that will play a crucial role in the growth of your new product. The process starts with writing down all your goals and the research timeline.
Whether you plan to hire an entrepreneur to conduct market validation on your behalf or do it in-house, it is imperative to inform your team on time for sufficient preparation. Doing it alone can be challenging if you do not know the rules and the requirements for conducting successful research, and hiring an expert can go a long way to getting the product validation right. Our team has all the expertise and experience to ensure a smooth and successful market validation.
Defining and characterizing your ideal customer is imperative before going to the field. This will particularly help you understand the customer who will use your product. Here are things you should consider.
Defining customer needs is the best way to know how to customize your products to meet the needs of all your audience. Consider listing down customer feedback when you begin the research and categorize the customers based on the demographics.
Once you have essential information, you should conduct the research. Talk to your target audience as you collect feedback. This is the best time to define your typical users and determine how your products will help them.
Create surveys and ask questions to different audiences through your website or social media pages. You should also know your competitor's strengths, weaknesses, and potential threats. The thoroughly conducted market research gives quality information to manage your product effectively.
Product testing is an essential factor to consider when conducting marketing research. This helps you clarify assumptions. You might think that the product has all it takes for successful implementation, but you may be surprised when you test it. Testing will help you identify loopholes, find solutions, and update the features before launching the product.
After thorough research, you should gather the information together and analyze it. Check the survey feedback on your website and social media pages and use the data to make the necessary adjustments to your product based on the specific needs of your target audience.
There are many reasons businesses should conduct market validation. The process benefits the organization, team, existing customers, and targeted audiences. Below are the reasons for conducting market validation.
You can tell which audience needs your product if you do the research. You will know the market well and determine which areas are the most suitable for your product. This helps you avoid wasting time and money in places where people aren't interested in your products.
Customers have different needs and expectations. But you may never know this unless you closely interact with them. Product validation helps you understand your target audience's problems and needs. During product validation, you will find out the features to include in your products that you hadn't initially thought of.
When you go out there to interact with your target audience, you will naturally provide them with more details on how the product will work and what needs the product will solve. This is the best time to collect the contact information of those interested in your upcoming products. You will likely get your first customers and sell your products within the first few days of your launch.
Developing and launching a new product can be costly. But it will be more expensive and riskier if you design and launch the product without validation. When you conduct product validation, creating a killer product strategy can be easier based on the product you want to launch. An effective strategy guides you in every step and helps you focus on achieving your goals in the long run.
Many businesses continue implementing new products with better features, leading to increased competition within various niches. Market validation helps you understand the position of your product in the market. You can analyze the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors and devise creative ways to manage your new products amidst the competition.
Building a product that sells can be easy, no matter the competition within your niche. But this requires careful analysis, time, and experienced minds to validate the product. At Coventures, we help businesses discover, validate and grow products. We have in-depth experience in the field and offer quality service with winning strategies to achieve your goals in real-time. Contact us to discover our product validation services.