You have thought about an incredible new business idea. You believe that it is what has been missing from everyone’s life. You know exactly what the product or service is you will sell. You put in loads of time and money to create the product or service. Launch day comes and you hear only crickets. You ask yourself why? Then a little bird comes and says did you test your idea? Though it may not be a fail-proof method it will ensure you have greater success than just launching your incredible business idea without testing it. Here are three tips for testing your business idea.
Find out who your ideal customer is
It is very important that you create a solid customer profile. Do not only define the basic information -age, gender, location- but also think of more complex questions. You could ask them “why would they buy the product?”, “What product do they us currently?”, “if they don’t use a product currently? What alternative do they use to solve their problem?”
Find out the value of market
Knowing the credentials of your customer is important, but it is also very important to know what the rand value of your market is. How many products or service do you need to sell to be successful? How big or small is your market? Is it a growing or dying market? You can analyze the trends in your field of interest by going to Google Trends. By typing in keywords related to your business you can see what the interest in your business is.
Go to trade shows or exhibitions to see who your prospects could be as well as who your competitors are. You can see what your competitors are selling and what the price point is. This will help you to establish if there is a gap in the market.
If you are selling a product, you can check out the bestsellers lists in your category on shopping websites (Amazon or Takealot) which would carry your product. This will help to check what the demand is for your product.
Do testing
It is important to test whether there is a demand for your product by physically going out there and having interviews with potential clients. Do not ask your friends or family as they have a bias towards you and will also only represent a small pool of your market. It is important to ask people who you don’t know. One way to do this is to a build a single page website which advertises your product. You can make people register to your newsletter. This will show you how much interest there is in your product. Make sure that you have the price on your lead page to see what people think. You could have two test webpages with different prices to see which one gets more conversions. Before you start testing make sure you know what your goal conversion will be.
By following these tips, you will be well on your way to knowing whether your idea is a winner or if you need to go back to the drawing board.
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