Importance of User Validation in Technology
User validation is an important aspect of lean startup ideas. The fact of the matter is, user validation is the single most important step aspiring entrepreneurs should take before they go into technology business.
If you have been wondering how important is validating a business model with users or customers, you need to read this piece to the very end.
You see, validation is your roadmap to success when it comes to technological startup.
User validation helps you manage things that elevate your awareness. Going into any business without a well thought out strategic plan and testing is like traveling in a foreign country without a map.
However, validation rules can irritate end-users if over-used, and you may not be able to use this testing method to gauge how successful your business will be. Therefore, you should find the best method that fits your target market that is both useful and engaging for your future customers.
You will need to find the right balance between validation, testing, and execution. You don’t want to spend too much time in the validation stage while delaying progress and your launch date. The sooner you can get to launch the sooner you can learn how your audience uses your app.
To get there, you must first quickly test the idea with user feedback while dissecting the research. Once you have learned from your research, you will know if you need to find to pivot and test a new idea or approach or if you need to start building the idea.
There are many problems that your business can avoid with proper validation testing such as slow learning, a poorly expressed value proposition, and/or a business plan that is too expensive to access for customers or not useful. It is advisable to identify the problems your business faces before going to market. That way, you will be well-prepared, and you can move your business from the lean startup to implementation stage smoothly.
If you are starting a business that uses technology, failure could occur, and this has to do with not understanding how to attract, secure, and service consumers. Therefore, your business model should be examined and validated from a variety of perspectives before launching your product or even building it.
You should explore worst case scenarios to assess or validate the potential impact these situations could have on your finance. Sometimes, things are going to take longer than you initially thought they would when you’re at the startup stage. You need to plan for this possibility through user validation.
Poor management that is absent of user validation is, in fact, the single most significant reason why startups fail. If you look around well or examine any investor-driven lean startups, hardly would you see a business fail because the product or technology failed. Rather, disaster usually lies at the feet of mismanagement of time and money and absent of validating business model with customers.
Again, more than two-thirds of businesses fail due to a lack of learning and lean startup practices. Not validating the business model with your customers or users can be seen as part of weak management. This mistake would reflect negatively on the company that you’re planning to launch.
Therefore, conducting thorough validation of your business model with customers is a good way to launch a successful business and sustainable business that is useful to happy users.
Here are a few tools that can help you during your validation process
Moqups-Create Mockups so you can visually explain your idea
InVision-Create and test the UX/UI
Marvel-Create a clickable prototype that you can test with the completed designs
If you want to learn more about user and idea validation, ask us.
If you want to find out more about our Pre-Startup program where we help with designs, prototyping, user validation and more, contact us at info@bixlabs.com
Originally published at blog.bixlabs.com on May 24, 2016.
