Why Should You Validate Your Product Idea?

You might have an amazing product idea. But, are you sure it will turn into a successful business? Many people make this mistake of creating a product based on their idea without actually finding out whether there is a need for it or not in the market.

It’s good to find a solution for a problem but it won’t be of much use if it isn’t serving a real market need. There’s no point in developing a product that the end-users won’t use or pay for. However, people do get overconfident about their product idea and proceed with its development without giving it careful thought. This lack of validation of whether there is a demand for such a product is one of the major reasons why many startups fail in the market.

Read: UX Design Principles For Startups

Fortune also reported that “creating a product that no one wants” is the top reason behind any startup failure. In another survey of failed startups, 42% of them felt that “the lack of market need for their product” is the biggest reason for their failure.

Let us tell you one more interesting stat. Around 20% of startups fail in their very first year. The percentage jumps to 30% during their second year and 50% by the end of the fifth year. Do you understand why the failure percentage keeps increasing? Well, that’s because, in the first year, the focus of the product owners remains only on building the product. As time passes by, they realize that their product isn’t being used much by people as they expected it to be. And hence, the downfall starts.

The solution- Product Validation

When the product doesn’t perform in the market, product owners usually feel that there is some fault within their product that it is not able to attract the end-users. So, they redesign it and add more features thinking it would solve the problem. It is perfectly fine to make some tweaks and adjustments for a better look and feel and a better experience. But they never really think about finding the root cause of the problem. A product, irrespective of how beautifully it has been designed and how flawlessly it works, won’t bring you success if people don’t want to use it or pay for it. It is therefore important to pay your initial focus on determining whether the product is desired by the people and whether it would be able to address their real problems. This is what we call Product validation.

Product validation is a way to ensure that you are building the right product with a market demand before you start with its development. It offers two serious advantages-

1. There is a lesser risk of failure. You save your time and money from making a product that no one actually wants.

2. You get a better idea of your target audience- their needs, preferences, and pain points. This helps build a relevant product and boosts its chances of success in the market.

Why is early validation important? And why people don’t validate early?

People often refrain from validating their product even if they know it’s a sensible thing to do and can be crucial for their product’s success. But they have this sense of fear- what if the product idea isn’t good enough to succeed? What if it turns out to be needless? The fear of their product idea not being acknowledged makes them anxious and they skip/avoid the validation process. That’s human nature though. We don’t want to feel unwanted- whether it’s us or our ideas.

That is why it is said that you should validate your product idea as early as possible. It will take relatively less time and effort in the beginning than if done later. Once you have invested your time and money in developing that product without validating it, you are left with no other option but to continue with the process even if you realize later that the product isn’t really desired by people. Plus, the fear of discovering whether what you are building makes sense or not also gets bigger with time. It gets even worse if you have received funding from an investor but are doubtful of the product’s success.

Now, do you understand why many startups fail? They think that they are making a unique and exciting product and launch it in the market without actually having any solid numbers or data to back their idea.

So, all we would say is don’t fear validation and don’t delay it. The longer you wait, the harder it will get. Also, understand that product validation isn’t just about checking whether your product has the demand and the potential to succeed but also about uncovering opportunities that can make your idea even better.

Final Thoughts

While we have explained the importance of validating your product idea, this doesn’t mean that products without validation don’t succeed. It’s just that validation allows you to look deeper into what kind of user problems you should actually be focusing on. You don’t need to discard your idea but re-evaluate it to build a solution around a real-world problem. Creating a product based on facts, proofs, and stats has a higher chance of success than one that is purely based on ideas or self-assumption.

Need some assistance in validating your product idea? Get in touch with our product development experts.