5 Questions to Use in a Market Validation Survey.

Perhaps you’ve just had the best idea for a startup or you’ve been holding on to a great idea for a while and you think the time is right to unleash your innovation to the world.

Before you rush to build a website, design an app, and pay for Ads, you need to do a few things.

First, make sure you find your competitive advantage.

You’re never going to be the only business in a market, there are always competitors and although it’s easier to keep blissful ignorance, it will pay off to do your research. Determine who your three biggest competitors are and start taking notes. You should understand how they make money (revenue streams), what services they offer (business model), and what separates them from the other providers in the space (competitive advantage). Then, you should develop a strategy for your own revenue model, business model, and competitive advantage.

Next, work on branding and marketing.

Give your venture a name, design a logo (for free using a tool like Tailor Brands- do not pay for anything yet!), and play around with fonts, color schemes, and voices to find your brand’s authentic message. Once you’ve done this, you know how to speak to your customers.

Once you’ve determined how you want to come across to your customers, you need to figure out who your customers are.

In general, it’s always advisable to build a business in an industry that you’re familiar with. This allows you a leg up in the “market research” phase because you know where to look to find answers to basic demographic, socioeconomic, and psychographic questions.

Let’s recap before we get to the specifics.

You’ve mapped out your strategy by defining your business model, revenue model, and competitive advantage.

You’ve got your branding and marketing strategy in place.

You know who your customers are and how they think.

This may not seem like much but if you’re thorough in this market research phase you will be levels above other entrepreneurs before you even start. While others are out in the field paying for Ads that probably won’t ever target the right clientele- you’re narrowing your focus and aiming for success.

Before you get to work on executing your venture, though, you need to do one more thing. This single activity can save you hundreds of dollars and months of time if you do it before you launch. It’s a tactic known as Survey Validation of Market Demand.

Survey Validation of Market Demand

Essentially, the goal is to design a survey that will yield results that indicate a green light (go) or a red light (abandon ship) with regards to moving forward with your venture. By conducting this survey you will get real feedback from your potential clients and this matters because if you launch a product or service that no one needs, you’ll have spent a lot of time, money, and effort for absolutely no reason. You need to make sure there is market demand for your offering and you need to have the discipline to step away if you determine that there is no demand.

The process is free and easy to do. You simply find a survey tool you like (my favorite is TypeForm but others include: SurveyMonkey, Google Forms, and SurveyPlanet) and launch a new survey. The following are 10 sample questions to include in your Market Demand Validation survey:

1. Would you use any of our services/ would you buy any of our offerings?

List all of your services/ product offerings and allow survey-takers to select multiple answer options.

2. How much would you be willing to pay for “x”?

Replace “x” with a specific service or product offering. Be sure to include “I would not pay for “x” as an option so that survey takers have the ability to indicate that they might use your service but they wouldn’t pay for it.

3. How often would you use our service(s) / offering(s)?

I would replace service(s) / offering(s) with a specific service or a specific offering to make it easier for survey takers to envision themselves using your offering. Again, be sure to include “Never/ Infrequently” as an option.

4. How do you currently solve “x” problem?

This needs to be an open-ended question with a text box for survey takers to type their answers. Replace “x” with the problem you think your offering is solving.

5. What is the biggest barrier to buying “x” / using our services right now?

Replace “x” with your offering. Potential answers to this might be “too expensive”, “not what I need”, “not worth paying for”… Try to give a variety of options but include an “other” option with a text box for custom user feedback.

The answers you get back from a Market Demand Validation Survey are worth their weight in gold. Once you look at the data, you’ll have a clear and definitive answer on whether or not you should move forward with launching your venture. If all looks good, you’re in the clear to start building. If the results were negative, you have real market feedback to use in redesigning your offerings. Either way, you gain insight into the actual needs and desires of your customers and you have a heads up on their pricing preferences. All of this information will give you a huge advantage as you grow your startup!