The only way to market validation
The only way to market validation.
Market validation. Let people vote with their credit cards. In fact, it is the only vote that matters. You validate the market with credit card transactions. It is typically not a good idea to listen to whether someone says they will or won’t buy a product. They often do not know. The only test worth its weight is a true market test by putting an offer in front of people and seeing if they buy. This is why the micro purchase is so important for new customers. Are they willing to purchase a $7 product? Are they willing to pull out their credit card and buy? This small action is what separates the buyers from the non-buyers. And it is also what validates your market. Everyone seeks product-market fit. Everyone wants to know whether what they’ve got will sell. There’s only one way to find out. Test. Test. Test. It isn’t what they say they will buy. It isn’t their own prognostication. It is, do they pull out their credit card and purchase? If they do, then success. If not, then onto the next one. There’s no use in wasting time with any other market validation method. Are they willing to pay? Yes or no. The great thing about this method is there is no dilly dallying. There is no “maybe.” There is no “perhaps.” It is 1 or 0.
Do not underestimate what people will pay, either. You don’t know pricing until you test that as well. Once you have validated a market, it is a good idea to test pricing on it. Whether it is a product or service, you really do not know what people will pay. Just that they were willing to pay for what you had initially offered. Split test your ads to go to differently priced offers to test pricing. Double the price on one of your offers. See if people are willing to pay it. Track your conversions. You may be pleasantly surprised and blown away that there is more elasticity in your pricing than you knew. You were making assumptions about what the market would support when you really didn’t know. This happens all the time. Remember: you are not your customer. You don’t know what your customer is willing to pay without testing it. You could easily test doubling your price as mentioned and you may not have any push back at all from the marketplace. Sometimes people are as willing to pay $97 as they are to pay $47. You’d never know that unless you tested it first. But if you’re looking for an easy to way to double revenues, you just found it. Do not assume you know your market that well without first testing it. It is the only way to be sure. If you don’t, you’re leaving money on the table with lost revenues.
You learn so much for testing your prospects and customers that you would never have thought you could learn. You may think you have the absolutely perfect product for your marketplace. You may think you know exactly what they want without asking them. You may think they’ll pay $999 for your upcoming training event. You may think you have the perfect piece of content for them. You may think you know what they best respond to. You may think you know your customer better than they know themselves. You may think you’ll sell out your live event. You may think you can get people to care. All that matters is what they best respond to. Only testing will tell you.
