Questions

How do I best validate my idea?

I'm traveling and I came across a problem that needs a solution. Now, I'm sure once this problem is solved it will benefit a lot of people. I'm thinking of providing a service to a major company to offer to its customers. After speaking with one of the staffs from said company, they told me that the service they once had did not work. It sounds to me that they did attempt to offer similar service but things did not work out too well. The service I want to offer will be best provided via mobile phones. Sort of like a text sent to people to remind them that they balance fee for their prepaid and monthly account is low. And that, they need to recharge their accounts to get service provided by the major company. I also think the service offered by us may have to be sent via the company or through some kind of way. I hope I've made myself clear and my apologies if I haven't provided enough info. Please, keep in mind the topics provided for this question may be inappropriate. I'm unsure of service.

4answers

It's hard to fully understand the background of your question, but in general, it sounds like you want this company to start a pilot program with your service. To get them to be willing to start a new pilot program with your service, you'll need to make something that solves the problems that existed with their previous service. To do that you'll need to better understand _why_ their previous service "did not work."

Was it because the service itself had too many bugs, or because customers didn't need the service, or because the user interface was inappropriate, etc.? Get as in-depth an answer as you can to this question. If possible, ask your contact at the company, ask the engineers that worked on it, and most importantly: ask the company's customers that used the service while it existed. You could reach customers by posting on forums (Quora, Reddit, etc.) something like, "Question for people that use [company X's] services"

Based on this info, you can design and build a new product which solves the pre-existing problems. Show this new product to the company's customers that you previously interviewed (through forum posts, etc.) and quantify their interest in it (rate 1 - 10 if you think this would be useful, etc.). You can then show your research, and new product, and how much their customers like the idea, to the company and you'll have a higher likelihood of them being willing to start a pilot program with it. If not, ask them why not, and see if you can address that issue as well.

If you'd like more detailed advice on the specifics of doing market research and product development for your idea I'd be happy to help,

best,

Lee


Answered 7 years ago

show case studies


Answered 7 years ago

I've written a whole big blog post on this topic some weeks back, have a look at http://www.agicent.com/blog/how-to-validate-app-idea.

You can start with as simple as doing google search the idea and see how many competitors are already there, and if there is no one at all, and then can go doing as complex researches as doing competitor's analysis, using tools like keywords planner, vima, ideasquare etc, and also take help of your friends.


Answered 6 years ago

There cannot be one best way, you need to choose the best way amongst the many ways available. Here are few ways that I feel might be beneficial for you:
Brainstorm Internally: In your case it could be 4-5 different features of your business or product. In this step, your goal is to offer your best solutions or versions of your idea. In our case we came up with four versions of what we thought was the best tagline we could think of for our business.

Don’t ask Family and Friends: We all want to feel good about what we are doing so sometimes we ask our loved ones about our ideas knowing that it will feel good. I am not saying that your family and friends are liars. I am saying that they are biased and, in most cases, not one of your potential customers. They also might feel forced to give feedback for feedback’s sake. Olympia, please save sharing with your friends and family until after you finish this process.

Choose your Interviewees: Next, make a list of 15 potential clients you can reach out to and interview for 10 minutes in person or over a Skype video. Think about your ideal customers. For us at Business Republic it was new, small, local businesses that would need our media services. Your potential customers may be found elsewhere. Make sure you can secure 10 minutes of their time in person or over Skype. A natural back and forth conversation is essential. This is essential when we cover the actual discourse you’ll be having.

Conduct Your Informal Interview: The first thing you want to do when conducting your informal interview is thank them for their time and tell them how their time will help you offer something that your customers will actually want. Put them at ease and remind them of how much their feedback is valued and will influence your business. Third, take a minute to explain what you do and the nature of your business before explaining what you need their opinion on. Fourth, tell them you are going to present 4-5 versions of your idea. Compare their reaction to the reactions of other ideas you present to gauge what is a brilliant to them and what is a dud. Lastly, after you have received their feedback on each idea. When we tested our 4-5 taglines with our local small businesses, we got feedback we never expected. We also got a lot of interest about our business in general. The Italian restaurant we visited was so intrigued they asked us when some of our services were going to be available and even allowed us to put our marketing postcards up on their notice board.

Review and Decide: Every business LOVED one of our taglines. "During our interviews we got to the heart of what our customers identify with. " We realized that our customers don’t really resonate with the word "brand." It was too abstract or nebulous. Additionally, they said "share it effectively" felt to "self-helped." The word "business" means a lot to them because they are in business and want more business. Finally, we confirmed that every business owner fear being ignored. Sometimes you will have to give up what you think is best for your business based on what you learned. After all, your customers are the reason why you exist.
Besides if you do have any questions give me a call: https://clarity.fm/joy-brotonath


Answered 3 years ago

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