Before you can begin testing a product or service,
you will need to identify a small group of
potential customers who fit the relevant customer persona.
We often call these people early adopters.
For example, if your product is designed to digitize your local bus timetable,
you will need to find a group of local people who regularly catch the bus,
or if your product is a new facial moisturizer,
you will need to find a group of people who regularly moisturize their face.
As baffling as it is to me,
turns out not everybody does.
In addition to representing your desired customer persona,
this small group of people must also be prepared to provide open and honest feedback.
There's no value asking for feedback from users who are not prepared to give it.
To that point, try not to just test on your family and friends as I often love
you way too much to give you the feedback about
your proposed solution that you really need to receive.
Additionally, they may not represent
the customer personas that are required to test your idea.
Once you have identified a group of
early adopters who are representative of the customer persona
that your product or service is aimed
toward and a willing to provide open and honest feedback,
you are ready to get started.
You should aim to begin prototype testing on
potential customers as soon as it's practical to do so.
This means once you have a prototype,
probably a low fidelity one,
to show to potential customers,
you should be seeking to obtain their feedback.
If your solution is a digital one,
then you might want to prepare a rough sketch of what
your product might look like on a large piece of paper.
Show your potential users,
and ask what they think,
and how they feel about it.
This would also be the case if your solution was more of an idea such as
a strategy or an initiative within
your organization that you may want to test and develop.
If your solution is a physical product,
then you could provide potential customers with
an early iteration of the product and ask them for their reactions.
It's critical that you do not wait until the feature inclusions of
your product or service are perfect before speaking to potential customers.
If you do this, then you have built more than is
necessary to test your basic assumptions,
which is still all we're doing at this point.
So, how do you test your prototype on potential customers?
Once you have built a low fidelity prototype, for instance,
and have identified potential customers who are prepared to give you feedback,
you are then ready to begin undertaking customer interviews.
You should begin by presenting the prototype to
the potential customer and observing how they interact with it.
You should take note of how they engage with the product or service and
record whether their interaction is different from what you anticipated.
After allowing the testers to use the prototype unassisted,
you should then ask them the following questions,
remember to record their responses.
Do you have any questions about this prototype?
What did you like about this prototype?
What did you not like about this prototype?
What would you use this prototype for?
Would you use this prototype in your day to day life?
It's fun to make written notes when undertaking prototype testing.
However, you may wish to record the interaction
with a video camera or make an audio recording.
This will allow other people to observe or listen to the interaction at a later date,
and you can also miss things that happen when you're busy taking notes.
So, recording user testing means you can be
really present and observing the entire time.
In addition to asking questions relating to the feature inclusions of your solution,
in a design strategy context,
it can also be important to test the business model that you intend to use.
In this case, you should also ask
the following questions: Would you pay money for this product or service?
If so, how much would you prepared to pay for this product or service?
Again, remember to record the responses.
After undertaking customer interviews,
you will be better placed to understand if the solution serves its stated purpose,
whether potential customers use the product or service,
and how much potential customers would be prepared to pay for it.
This information will help you understand whether you should move ahead
with the concept or if you should make changes to the design.
For instance, if multiple people provide
the same feedback or demonstrate confusion at the same point in using your prototype,
you should probably consider making alterations to the product or service design.
Undertaking customer prototype testing is
an iterative process that should be continuously conducted.
As your product or service evolves,
it's important that you regularly undertake customer interviews.
You don't just do it once and then move on.
To that end, you may want to conduct interviews with the same group of people in order to
understand whether the changes that have been made to
the proposed solution have the desired impact.
You may also wish to undertake testing on an entirely new group of
people as your product or service evolves to gain fresh perspectives.
Whatever the case, it's important that you develop
a feedback loop that allows you to test your product or service,
make changes based on real user feedback,
and then retest the product or service as a result.
We have just discussed why it is important to test
prototypes of products and services on potential customers.
This helps you to understand whether your idea solves
a clearly identifiable market need or whether you have misinterpreted the problem.
We have also canvassed when you should begin testing prototypes on potential customers.
We have reviewed some of the methodologies and questions that
you might use when seeking to test your prototypes.
And remember, prototype testing is not a linear process,
and should be done throughout the product service
and development life cycle.
Eric KnightAssociate Professor of Strategic Management and Innovation
