16 experiments for customer discovery and product-market fit

For my recent workshops at Bristech 2016 I wanted to help people become familiar with practical ways to approach customer discovery and find product-market fit.

I collated 16 activities that are practical and low-cost ways to get good quality insights. All of these will help with customer discovery but only some will help with product-market fit (the ones that mention showing product to the customers).

I hope you find them useful!

1. Data Sheet

   A product spec that you share with potential customers to see whether they show any interest in buying a product that meets the spec.

2. Brochure

   A printed or digital brochure that represents your product as if it already exists. Can be used to assess customers’ reactions and willingness to place orders.

3. Storyboard

   A visual representation of the experience a customer will have using your product. Encourages the user to imagine using the product. How interested are they in buying?

4. Landing page

   A page on your website (or single page website) where you can offer the user a call to action to see whether they are interested in buying your product.

5. Product Box

   After explaining your product to potential customers you ask them to design the product’s packaging for you. You will find out what is most important to them. They will also price the product for you if you ask.

6. Video

   Make a video of the product as if it already exists. You will be able to tell where users bail out of the video and tweak it accordingly until you have a compelling offering.

7. Simple Prototype

   You create a representation of your product that customers can interact with. Does it provide the value you thought it would?

8. Wizard of Oz

   You, as a human, invisibly provide the back-end functionality of a product or service that will eventually be automated. Do users get the value that you expected?

9. Concierge

   As a human you directly (visibly) provide the parts of the product or service that does not yet exist? Which parts have value to the user?

10. Interviews

    Talk to potential customers about the problem you want to solve for them. When was the last time they encountered that problem? How did they solve it? How important is that problem to them? What would the world look like for them if a magic wand could be waved? I recommend reading The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick for details of the right way to talk to customers.

11. Field Studies

    Go to the places where you hope to observe your customers struggling with the problem you want to solve. What are the most difficult elements? How is it currently being solved? Ask someone to talk you through what they are doing.

12. Card Sorting

    List out all the product features or benefits and give them to customers. Have the customers rank them in order of preference. Alternatively, have them group them in a way that would help you gain insight e.g. by channel or subscription packages.

13. Test Selling

    Approach real potential customers and pitch to them your best guess of what value your product or service will deliver. Can you secure a sale (take money) on that alone?

14. Pre-order

    Can be combined with the one-page website. Take pre-orders to see if people are interested enough in the value you are offering to put money down.

15. Crowdfunding

    Pitch your idea on a crowdfunding website. Do people like it enough to donate money?

16. Alternate realities

    If you are creating a new product in a new market, try creating as many wildly different ways of delivering value as you can. Pick the 5 most different versions and ask for feedback on these from your customers.