Your First Product Research Schedule
For complicated projects, you should spend most of your time on the research stage.
The absolute number one killer of not-quite-businesses is not doing enough research.
How many people start companies because they’ve dreamed of it and then realise that there aren’t the customers?
On The Value Of Ideas
As some of you will know, I’ve been looking into starting a physical products/ecommerce operation recently.
I’m spending a lot of time trying to find the right idea. It’s frustrating, but that’s the game you play.
Ideas are really easy to find. If you’re well-versed in copywriting stuff, then you’ll know how easy it is to spot gaps in the market and angles to exploit in terms of what’s on the market and what you could put there.
Even a simple Amazon review that says, “This product is great but I really wish it was easy to clean” can set off a chain of events (or Google searches.)
Ideas aren’t valuable until they are.
Your ideas are worth very little without any data to say they are. Sure, it sounds like a good idea in your mind; who wouldn’t want a necktie made form solid marble. It’d look great on your Instagram page.
Unless you have a market though, it doesn’t matter if it’s the best idea ever. Nobody buying a product means the business is doomed. You don’t get points for being ahead of your time if you don’t survive long enough for that to become the case.
Also, if you can’t bring a product to market then the business is a no-go. For a case in point, look at Kickstarter’s “Top performers” page.
If You Can’t Bring It To Market… Forget It
Now, you’d think that the “most backed” and “most popular” Kickstarter projects would be out-of-your-league.
I certainly did when I first looked. There are 3D printers that can build themselves, electric bicycles made from the hubs of fallen spacecraft and all manner of magical things that make you think, “Jesus… if this is what it takes to be an entrepreneur, I’m out of luck.”
Look a little closer though. Click on some of those projects. There are some big issues with a lot of the products.
Not all of them, mind you. But some of them.
The big, flaming issue that’s blatantly obvious as soon as you click the “comments” button is that a lot of these products don’t exist.
I saw one product – some home aquarium-type thing – that had raised either hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars.
The Kickstarter was two years ago.
Since then, nobody has received the product. What’s more; their comments on the official company page have been deleted and some backers are being told they have to sign a legal waiver voiding their warranty before they get the product.
This is a nightmare and it comes down to one thing: The people behind the product can’t bring it to market.
The idea is so good that just the promise of it raised more money than most people will earn in a lifetime. But the execution has killed the company before it has begun.
If you can’t bring a product to market, kill the idea. If you don’t know whether you can bring a product to market, you need more research.
How To Research
Research for any project – be it a sales letter for the copywriters amongst us or a product for the entrepreneurs among us – consists of several stages, which I’ve rambled about above.
- Is there a market for this?
- Does the market want the solution I can provide?
- Can I provide the solution?
Now, there are other things you should worry about, like how to get your product in front of the market. That’s absolutely an issue later on.
The problem with that thinking is it’s where most people start. “How am I going to market my brand on Instagram?!”
There is no point in worrying about that. Your product doesn’t exist. Until your product exists, there’s no point in trying to sell it. (that’s the mistake that a lot of Kickstarters make.)
For now, concentrate on those three questions.
Is There A Market For This?
It’s never been easier to find markets. You can do it without ever leaving your house. Start with Reddit, who have a subreddit for every interest on the planet. Then the usual haunts; Facebook groups, Twitter groups and forums.
Here’s the key thing: Unless you’re talking about something Luddite in nature, where obviously people will not be online, if you can’t find anyone in the market you’re targeting on these platforms, then there won’t be the volume to sell.
All of those platforms account for most of the buying populace on the planet. You should be able to find a suitable market somewhere around one of those. If not, there are probably bigger markets for you to concentrate on and better businesses to start.
Is There Any Appetite For My Solution?
Let’s say you’re building the next great info product. Here’s a mistake that I’ve made in the past (and will probably make again.)
Most problems can be solved with a smart plan and a little bit of effort. You’d think, “Great… I’ll write a book giving people step-by-step guides to solving their problems.” It’s a fair idea and it should work.
It doesn’t always though.
A lot of people can’t stick to a plan. A lot of people are allergic to the faintest hint of effort. Still more people don’t want their problems to be solved.
Look at all the people whose major hobby is following politics. If they spent the hours on building a business that they do arguing about minimum wage increases, then the latter wouldn’t ever be a problem for them.
Try telling someone that though. Or, try telling someone that being short, fat or not-so-great-looking doesn’t have to be a dating death sentence. A lot of people simply don’t want to know.
Finding out how open people are to your solution is key. This is done by testing the waters, writing “philosophical” posts online and hacking together a simplified solution that you can modify after you get the green light.
Can I Provide The Solution?
This is where so many Kickstarter companies and other wantrepreneurs go wrong.
It’s also the place that will land you in a lot of trouble if you get it wrong.
You cannot take people’s money, not provide a solution and then come out unscathed.
On a wider note, there’s no point in investing all of the costs of production and the time commitment that comes with launching a business if you’re not able to then deliver the goods.
What this means on a technical basis is how much does it cost to get your product into the hands of the customer?
That sounds simple, but you have to remember this is the actual cost.
Not a fairy tale budget. Nor a “I’m never going to get any returns” budget. Or a “let’s forget shipping” budget. Or, “I’ll deal with customs issues as they arise” costing.
All of these issues are important, and they’ll lead you to an exact figure (as well as timeline.)
Here’s the flaw in dropshipping as a model in most cases:
- You can’t control the product quality (more returns)
- You can’t control shipping times (more refunds)
- The supplier can mess up your whole business
All of these things are scary, but they’re a cost of doing business. The issue with this in the research stage is that you need to know the cost.
You can’t guess.
Final Thoughts
This article is boring. It’s tedious and most people will read it and say, “Yeah… I know all that.”
It’s crucial to get the initial stages right though – in any business. If you don’t do the above, then the ultimate problem is that either you are creating a product that won’t sell (waste of money and time) or you’re going to create a product that could sell but you won’t be able to do it (bigger waste of time and money.)
Take your time, do your research and if an idea looks more trouble than it’s worth, it probably is.