Buy a Feature to test your new value proposition: The game rules

When I prepared the Buy a feature test I did for SnappCar, it was hard to find good information about it online. That’s why I like to share my experiences here for other people to find it.

What is a Buy a feature test?

Buy a feature is a simple game that helps you to get feedback from customers about your product in a quick and easy way. Customers or users “buy” fake features from you with fake money and by listening to their argumentation on why they chose these specific features, you learn a lot about which features are more valuable than others.

Testing a value proposition

For SnappCar I used the Buy a feature test to test a new value proposition for their private lease product. A value proposition is a specific description of a product or service that conveys the value of it for the customer. Airbnb’s value proposition, for example, is: “Book unique homes and experience a city like a local”. This says exactly what Airbnb does for her customers. For SnappCar private lease this would be the specific words and phrases they use to describe their offer to their customers.

SnappCars question

SnappCar asked to design and test a new value proposition for their private lease offer. Since SnappCar is car sharing platform, every private lease driver is obligated to share their car with others via the platform for a couple of times a month. In exchange you pay a lower fee. The exact details about this deal where not very clear yet. For example: How many times do people need to share their car? How much is the reduced fee? How do we calculate the gasoline and who pays for the kilometers renters drive? In order to find this out we conducted 12 in-depth interviews and a survey with 200 respondents. On the basis of that we came up with a new value proposition and tested this with customers as well ass potential customers. We used a Buy a feature test.

How does it work?

The Buy a feature tests I did before where all meant to test functionalities of a website or app with users. I could find useful information about that at several websites:

http://www.uxforthemasses.com/buy-the-feature/

https://www.innovationgames.com/buy-a-feature/

Nevertheless I could not find answers to all my questions and moreover I wanted to use the Buy a feature to test a value proposition in stead of a digital product. Therefore I had to find out if I could to it in a similar way.

This is how I did it

1. The participants

First we invited a group of clients and potential clients. In the case of SnappCar it was good to include potential clients as well because one of SnappCars goals was to reach a new audience with this new value proposition we were testing. We defined potential clients als: people that showed interest in the sharing economy.

2. Game supplies

Fake money: Every player needs a stack of money with which they can buy the features they want.

A clear description of your value proposition: We designed a webpage that showed the value proposition. This exactly described what the customer would get once they would decide to take the private lease offer. “Show don’t tell” was what we were going for.

Cards with “features” on it: We split up the whole value proposition into several features. Each feature goes on a card. On the cards were for example:

• A fuel card that your renters can use to fuel so you don’t have any hassle with paying for gasoline.
• 20 euro discount on your monthly private lease costs when you rent your car more than twice a month.
• If you pay 10 euros more you can cancel your private lease contract after 6 months without paying extra.

Every card had one feature and a price, the harder the feature was to implement, the more it would costs. In the end we were not able to include all features into the value proposition so we had to know what people value the most.

3. The game rules

Before we begun

We had two sessions so we invited 2 x 8 people for a session of 2 hours. We made sure we invited people that were interested in private lease and in the sharing economy. Everyone received a printed version of the webpage we designed.

Feedback on the value proposition

The first assignment was to look at the web page en write down all the questions and remarks people had. I added this feedback element before the game in order to not be bothered by questions or comments during the game. It made the value propositions clear to everyone and took away al the uncertainties. Next to that, it gave us insight in how we could improve the story and the copy. After this round of questions we could start the game.

The game

Everyone received the same amount of Monopoly money, just enough to buy a little more than half of the features. Each feature had its own price so people had to look closely and think wisely which features they wanted and why.

I expected it to be more of a group conversation. People calling out which feature they wanted while others respond on it. However, it was more modest and quiet. People quietly read all the features on the cards and calculated what the could buy. The lay aside the ones they wanted and asked me, as the game leader, to accept their money. On that point we discussed what they wanted and why. It gaves us good insight in what is important to people. I also facilitated the conversation between players so we could follow their discussion. That gaves us even more insight. A lot more than an interview would do.

The result was 16 x a set of features the 16 players chose. We could count which features were chosen the most and which the least and moreover, we knew why. This was very valuable information for SnappCar to finetune their value proposition.

Next step

A logical next step would be to design 3 landing pages, each with a different version of the value proposition based on the things we learned from the buy a feature sessions. This would give even more insight in what people want because you measure behavior in stead of attitude. Something we tried to mimic with the buy-a-feature game.

What would I do different next time

It was a bit disappointing that people didn’t discuss their choices with each other that much. I really had to facilitate that. Next time I would add a game element that would make them debate more. I’m curious if this would give even more insight and if it would still be manageable.

I’m would love to hear other experiences on this topic. Please leave your comments below!