9 Tips to Test Your Idea That You Can't Afford To Miss
validate business idea
Every prospective entrepreneur thinks of one idea or the other. But not all business ideas are always workable. Bringing a new approach to life is quite exciting, but on an impulse, many entrepreneurs fail to answer the fundamental question, if the idea is going to fetch profits.
Market research is a must before you launch a new product or service. While there is no shortcut or guarantee to success, in-depth market research is significant and can go a long way. Here are some tips to test your idea before you invest your precious time and money into a might-be potentially weak business.
9 Tips to Test Your Idea
Think of Profitability First‌‌‌
The first and foremost point to consider while evaluating a new business venture is its profitability quotient. Along with survival, profit-making is primal for the successful running of any business. If your idea is fetching you huge costs with less scope of selling it at a high price, then you must either try to reduce your cost as much as you can or check the credibility of your idea once again.
Chayanika Goswami
Share Your Ideas with Your Friends and Family‌‌
There is always a fear that if you share your idea with someone, they might plagiarize it. But don't be afraid. Nobody can steal your passion for making the business idea a success, and not everybody is capable enough to start a new successful business. Firstly, stop for some fruitful advice from your friends and family. The feedback you get might be one-sided but initial thoughts will give you confidence.
‌‌Moreover, you might get new ideas and suggestions that are worthwhile. There is a better option too, rather than just telling them about it, why not test your product or services on them, if they are willing for it, which they should be expectedly, and get their valuable feedback. For honest and genuine reviews, seek trustworthy people.
Build a Prototype or Test Service
‌‌The dictionary meaning of a prototype is a preliminary version of a product. Even though you might be very excited after getting a business idea, it is better to make a prototype and test it with the people around you and get some honest and authentic feedback. It is the best way to test your business idea before you invest your time and money into it. It saves you from employing huge costs at once.
Find Minimum Viability of Your Product
According to some established entrepreneurs, a minimum viable product is the purest form of your idea that you can sell as an actual product. If you find that purest form to work well in the market, escalate gradually with more and more development every time. If the immature version of your product was welcomed, the better translation is expected to be greeted more heartily.
Piyush Mishra
Write Down Your Product Concept
There are many questions regarding the product that are needed to be answered. And testing before launching a product is known as Product Concept. Remember, these are only your assumptions, but the sooner you test them, at the time of launching your product, you'll have less risk. Questions like who is your customer? What problem are you solving? How does your product solve that problem? What are the key features of the product? Are essential for realizing the potential of your product or service.
Assess the Competitor
A great way to find shortcomings in your business module is to read customer reviews on similar businesses. Dissatisfied clients are quick to share their views and what they don't like about the given product, and you can find a lot of recommendations from the existing customers. These insights will very likely bring the weakness of your idea to light.
So, if your business idea is a physical product, check out similar products on the internet to see what the buyers have to say.
Similarly, you can do the same if your idea is a service. Moreover, you can use the recommendations to improve your product or service and can take advantage as it is still in its developing stage.
Create a Website or a Facebook Campaign‌‌
Another way of putting your idea into the test is by creating a website or a Facebook campaign in case you want to know the reaction of people. Established businessmen or entrepreneurs say that creating a website goes hand in hand with building your business. There are various blogging sites to assist you with this endeavor. An exciting and attractive website is always welcoming to more and more people. You can popularize it by using extraordinary marketing strategies. People can get influenced very quickly if the marketing strategy is unique and catchy. The trend of hashtags can be beneficial in this case.
Build a Mailing List‌‌
Once you have a website, it’s time to build your audience. There are different apps available that let you customize sign up forms to access any page. Also, they are immediately changeable. By doing so, you can collect whatever information you need to know about the viewer. Almost all the sign-ups include the Email address of the viewers. You can have direct contact with your prospective customer by connecting with him/her via email.
Lakshya Singh
Create Your Focus Group‌
A focus group means a group of people assembled before the launch of the product to participate in a discussion. But paying a marketing company to hold a focus group will cost you a hefty sum of money, and since your budget at present might be non-existent, that option becomes out of the question.
Luckily social media gives you a passage to the entire network. Reach out to your trusted friends and acquaintances and let them know that you want to test your product or business idea and need some feedback. You can also request your mentors (if any) or seek out experienced people in this field through social media to help you out and give their valuable suggestions.
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