You’ve come up with an innovative business idea, raised initial funding, and believe you have what it takes to be a business innovator. What about business concept validation?
By going through the process of validating your business idea, you can gain a deeper understanding of how your concept does or doesn’t meet your target customers’ pain points. It’s important to validate your concepts early in the process to ensure you don’t waste either time or resources creating a product/experience/process that isn’t a good fit. Securing market validation can also instil confidence among investors.
Definition of business concept validation
Validation is the process of gathering evidence and learning through experimentation and user testing, in order to make faster and de-risked decisions about implementing the idea.
There are two main categories of validation techniques – qualitative and quantitative. And today we want to show you how you can use them.
Quantitative research
This research gets you numerical results – percentages, graphs or amounts. Quantitative research is used to test assumptions and validate them in relation to the given subjects.
Quantitative insights are recorded through statistical outputs or close-ended questions. The goal is to reach an absolute or binary outcome. In short, results that will tell you to choose right or left, black or white.
Advantages
Powered by numbers, quantitative research can be used to reach millions of users using different types of digital validation paths, such A/B testing.
Disadvantages
Quantitative research is a binary tool. This means the results you get from them are rigid outcomes. They’re perfect for the hard-data base, but they’re not the best way to test abstract ideas as innovation often offers.
Reaching a massive audience will be another challenge, depending on the niche you work in. Because hyper-specific target personas are not easy to find in larger quantities.
Solution
Depending on what you’re looking for, if you can’t find a specific audience to test, you can always go through public studies and look for data correlation. Based on information association, you’ll be getting information to help you move your experiment in a certain direction.
You can switch to qualitative research if quantitative insights don’t produce the results or numbers you’re looking for.
Gold Rules
1. Consider statistical significance
Quantitative research aims at reaching an “absolute”. You want to make sure your results are likely to be replicated if the test is conducted more than once.
2. Select the right variables
Design your experiment so that it pinpoints the right variables. The variable you’re putting to the test should be the only thing that changes.
You must stay consistent on for example visuals, target audience, timing, or location.
3. Break down your experiment
If you’re testing multiple things, make sure you focus on the ones that are priorities and then proceed to test them one at a time. This will simplify the way you digest the final results.
Qualitative research
Qualitative research is related to words, consumer thoughts and conceptual insights. The goal is to dive deep into users’ minds and experiences.
It focuses on topics that are harder to grasp and understand, given their abstract nature. Generally, if quantitive research told you that people prefer black, qualitative research tells you why.
Good news
Qualitative research goes deeper into hypothesis analysis. It helps you build a storyline from the ideas you’ve gathered.
Engaging in qualitative research opens the doors for you to be in contact with first-hand consumer experiences, expectations, and concerns. It helps you acquire an empathic understanding of your market and directly respond to it, wherever you serve B2B or B2C market.
Bad news
Having this deep conversation with consumers can be either difficult as expensive. Especially when you need information from people with very specific characteristics.
Because of the complexity and resources required to conduct qualitative research, you usually deal with a small number of users. That’s why you shouldn’t rely solely on a single round of qualitative tests to make critical decisions.
The key
There are plenty of budget-friendly solutions ex. you can start looking into your internal circles. If you have a budget that allows you to expand the reach of your research, there are platforms such as Look Look, which are all excellent options to help you navigate the research.
Our tips
1. Get your questions right
Asking the right questions is fundamental to making the most out of qualitative research.
2. Use alternative meanings
While consulting many people, we discovered that we all use the same but different language. We often use abbreviations, and phrases that are familiar only to those from the same industry. We must match the language of our audience.
3. Dare to go beyond traditional ways
Interview guides shouldn’t begin and end with a list. Visual cues, prototypes, videos – don’t be afraid to use all tools you think might help trigger the desired behaviour.
Entrepreneurship is often described as a “process of discovery.” And to determine whether your product is a market fit, you must seek feedback. Business concept validation is essential. Your gut feelings or beliefs won’t be a strong determinant of success in your business. We said that before, entrepreneurship requires flexibility and hard work. If you put in the time to outline your goals, and assumptions, assess the market and validate the concepts you will be able to thrive for many years to come.
More on validation and experimentation
Thanks for reading!
If you’re not exactly sure how to conduct business concept validation, make sure you leave an email address. Our consultant will contact you to talk about how valuable experimentation is when making decisions in business and what can be your way to strategically innovate.
