Product Validation - The Valley of Death
Validate early, validate often. Everyone thinks about validating their product with customer feedback, the missing link, they never validated the concept with potential customers before they built a solution.
Not validating the concept before building the product is the biggest single driver of failure for startups.
75% of new products fail. This is abysmal.
“There’s a big difference between making a simple product
& making a product simple.”
Des Traynor - Intercom
Don't guess. Test.
Concept validation tests the market to see if your target market needs or wants the proposed solution. Product validation is testing the features and delivery system for your solution.
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Even if you as an entrepreneur think a product idea is fantastic, it doesn't necessarily follow that consumers would agree.
Importance of product validation
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While building a new product, you build it on many assumptions. These assumptions may be right or wrong, and they can cut short the presence of a product in the market. So, you should build on assumptions and test them with the end-user.
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There are many problems users can face after a product launch, but it can make users feel bad and drive them away after launch. Instead of improving the product after launch, it can be improvised before. Also, building something without proper knowledge of demand and usability will waste time and money.
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Getting to know your user better gives clarity to the processes of improving the product. You build on reality rather than assumptions that make the product more usable.
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Validation leads to product market fit. Product market fit is when your customer growth is so fast it is killing the company and you are still making a profit.
A few steps are included in process validation that can make the product stand out and more viable. It also ensures the longevity of the product in the marketplace. These are the processes of product validation.
Concept testing
Test the concept, then test specific features and how people want the solution delivered.
It sounds easy but in reality it is one of the hardest barriers to break through as a startup. Testing a concept without leading the audience to the conclusion you want to hear.
It can be as simple as a landing page describing or pitching the concept. Many successful entrepreneurs have used concept videos to validate their assumptions with the mass market.
Market insights
Dive deep into the minutia of the market, its forces, competitors, products that are growing, products that are declining.
It gives a view of the competitors present in the market and, how they are doing, what one can change according to market insights about a particular product.
Reaching to a target audience and finding the terminology of defining a product.
Customer validation
Get out and talk to people, potential customers.
Observing the needs, habits, and pain points of the user and building products that align the user goal as well as a business goal.
This step of the process answers the questions about who the users are, what they need, and their problems.
Profitability
You have not gained product market fit until you have both uncontrollable growth and are making a profit.
Being able to deliver the product at a profit is of course the goal of any business.
Apart from the above steps, one can do more to get the results or answer the questions with clarity. Product validation is a well-planned task so that every aspect of the product is covered. Check for the different aspects of the validation process for a better usability test.
The building of a product till the launch is an iterative process. It's not that we can't go back there once a process is done. Every process can be done repeatedly to get more and more clarity, thereby making the product more viable. User interviews and surveys after the first interaction with the product play a huge role in the product's success.
We Uncover Hidden Opportunities
Entrepreneurs, product managers, and web developers sometimes become attached to their original concept and assume the market will change its mind.
Whether or not people will buy your goods by validating them, you may assess your company's profitability. Even if it's a challenge to guarantee your product will be a complete success before it is launched, the process of product validation can greatly improve your chances.
At Dallas.inc, we support early-stage businesses through each level of development until they have enough funding to stand on their own.