Bright Ideas #93 - Testing your new product, service or idea

Have you ever spent hours or days working on a new product or service, only to launch it and discover no one is interested? If so, trust me, you are so not alone.

Plenty of business owners have been down this bumpy (and costly) road before you. Heck, just look at all those Internet businesses that went under a few years ago like Pets.com or those grocery delivery services.

Luckily, there is a simply way to avoid this fate.

But before I share that, here’s an important reminder for you…

So how do you avoid having your new product or service die on the vine?

Testing!

You see, it doesn’t matter if people need what you are selling.

What matters is whether they want it, and if they are willing to pay you enough for it. And testing is the best way to find out before you spend oodles of time and money launching something new.

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How do you test your idea without breaking the bank?
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Here are four of my favorite ways to test an idea on a shoestring budget…

1) Ask Your Customers

If you already have a business, one of the simplest ways to test is to poll your current clients. You can ask in person, send them an email, add questions to an evaluation form, or do a short survey online (surveymonkey.com is a terrific tool).

This makes it easy to find out:
A) If they have a problem your idea might solve
B) If your idea would interest them
C) How much they would be willing to pay
…and much more.

However, don’t just present your idea and ask what they think. Most folks will tell you it sounds interesting just to be polite. Or they’ll give you the answer they think you want (a big problem with focus groups).

Instead ask specific questions like: On a scale of 1-10 how interested would you be in buying this? Or, ask how much would you be willing pay and give ranges they can choose from $50-75, $75-100, $100-150?

2) Take It to the People

One of my favorite ways to test ideas is to offer workshops on subjects I’m considering turning into products. But I don’t actually create the workshops. I just create a few workshop titles and descriptions, then see which ones event organizers pick.

If one gets chosen over and over again, that’s a good sign. And if the room is always full when I present that topic, that’s an even better sign.

Finally, I make sure I include a key few questions on my speaking evaluations like: Would you be interested in learning more about this topic? What would you be most likely to invest in: a longer workshop, a book, an ebook, an audio, a video, etc.?

3) Sell It on a Small Scale

If you’re selling a product and can produce a couple samples cheaply, do it. If you’re selling a service, create an inexpensive one-sheet advertising what you do. Then get out there and see if anyone buys.

Many networking groups offer low or no-cost marketing tables at their events. This is an amazing, incredibly low cost way to see if there is interest in your products or services.

Don’t have a group like this in your town? If you have products consider getting a vending table at a local flea market. Or see if you can put your wares in a consignment shop. Once you’re sure there’s interest you can ramp up production to meet demand.

4) Put It on the Web

Whether you have a physical product in hand or not—or even you are selling a service—you can test it on the Internet.

Craigslist is a fabulous, f*ree place to test.

You can also post a product on EBay and see if you get any bites. Even if you don’t have it ready to go, you can use this technique and just cancel the auction before time runs out.

If EBay isn’t right for you, you can do another, slightly more complicated form of Web testing. Just set up a single page Website (also known as a squeeze page) offering them a fr*ee report on the subject. This does not have to be a fancy site at all.

Then use a pay-per-click campaign (through Google or Yahoo) that promotes what you are offering and sends people to your new site.

Just remember, if you go this route there are a number of factors that can affect response—above and beyond whether your product or service is a valuable one. Because learning to write effective pay-per-click ads and Web copy is an art form in and of itself.

Of course, even if you do all the testing in the world, success is never guaranteed.

There are always any number of reasons why your product, service or idea might never get off the ground. But at least if you do your due diligence you’ll know whether or not you’ve got a good shot at making it happen. And you’re much less likely to flush tons of time and money down the toilet along the way.

©2002-2006 Success Stream. All Rights Reserved. www.success-stream.com

Do you have a marketing, advertising or writing question you’d like to have answered? Email me and you might see the answer in a future edition of Bright Ideas.

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