How To Find The Best Consumer To Test Your Product

Testing a product on real-world users is one of the most critical steps in creating and selling a successful consumer product. 

But knowing the right way to conduct user testing requires knowing how to identify and understand your target customer base, how to ask the right questions, and then how to use information effectively gathered from those questions. 

User testing is an empirical science that has been around for as long as people have been designing products for other people, but even first-time marketers can do quality research by following some basic rules.

Takeaways
1. Identify your target audience
2. Consider demographics and characteristics
3. Use customer personas for guidance
4. Reach out to existing customers
5. Leverage social media and online communities
6. Collaborate with industry influencers
7. Conduct surveys and focus groups
8. Offer incentives for participation
9. Analyze feedback to make informed decisions
10. Iterate and refine your testing process

Get Inside Your Customer’s Head

The most important aspect of your CRO strategy is to understand what your customers want, need, and think. You can only do this if you’re willing to ask them.

If you have a customer base already, start by sending them surveys regularly (e.g., once every three months) and asking questions like:

• What are their biggest pain points with your product?
• How would they improve it?
• What features do they use most often? Which ones don’t work well enough for them?
• What would make them recommend it to friends or family members who are looking for something similar but better than what’s out there right now?

Understanding consumer behavior through mobile ad click rates is a valuable aspect of marketing research. To gain insights into this, take a look at our article on What We Learn About Consumers From Mobile Ad Click Rates and explore how click rates can reveal consumer preferences and engagement patterns.

Understand Your Potential User Base

When you’re trying to find the best consumer to test your product, you must understand who that person is. They may not be as easy to identify as you think. Here are some of the key things you should know:

Who are your customers? What are their demographics? Where do they live? How old are they? What do they like and dislike? Do they have any habits or hobbies that might help us determine what kind of person would be interested in our product?

How does this information help me pick out my ideal customer base for my business testing needs? The more information about who a potential tester might be, the better we can narrow down who we’re looking for and target them specifically with our messaging.

Determine Business Goals Keep You On Track

After determining the problem, you will want to define your business goals. This gives you a clear sense of what it is that you are trying to accomplish and keeps you on track as you progress through the process.

Define your business goals: What is it that your company wants to get out of this? Are they looking for new customers? 

Are they trying to increase brand awareness or build loyalty among existing customers? What does success look like for them in terms of ROI (return on investment)?

Define the problem: Why does this exist in the first place? What is prompting this need for change or improvement? 

Is there something missing from current products/services offered by competitors that will allow you to stand out from the crowd and gain market share at their expense? 

Do people who use similar services have any complaints about them when asked directly during surveys or interviews?

Conducted by researchers hired by companies who want answers before investing time & money into developing anything themselves or purchasing another product from one who already has!

When it comes to academic data collection in marketing research, having a solid method is crucial. Our guide on The Best Method for Collecting Academic Data in Marketing Research walks you through effective strategies to gather and analyze data for your research endeavors.

Use The Best Available Tools

The best tools to get the job done are different for every industry, but there are some you’ll see over and over again.

Here are some of the most common types of qualitative research tools:

Focus groups (Sometimes called “seminars” or “workshops.”) Are small groups that meet together in a room with a moderator to discuss topics related to your product or service. 

Focus groups are good for getting feedback on one narrow topic at a time, and they can be used as initial research with smaller audiences before moving on to more advanced techniques like surveys and interviews.

One-on-one interviews (Sometimes called “in-depth interviews” or “IDIs.)’ Interviews in which an interviewer asks a series of questions one person at a time, usually face-to-face but sometimes over the phone or online video chat as well.”

Understand The Difference Between Qualitative And Quantitative Data

It’s important to understand the difference between qualitative and quantitative data. Qualitative data focuses on subjective opinions, while quantitative data focuses on objective measurements.

Qualitative Data

Qualitative research involves observing and interviewing people about their experiences with a product or service. 

This type of research is useful for gaining insights into your users’ motivations and feelings about your product, but it can’t tell you the exact number of people who might buy something from you or why they would or wouldn’t do so. 

An example of qualitative research would be asking users what they think about your new app idea by having them fill out an online survey or form where they describe their thoughts in their own words.

Quantitative Data

Quantitative research involves collecting numbers related to specific traits that you’re interested in studying (such as how much time people spend using particular products). 

Quantitative studies are often more difficult than qualitative ones because they require more resources (such as money) to collect enough data points before reaching any meaningful conclusions; 

However, once completed successfully they provide valuable information on things like customer satisfaction rates based on surveys completed after purchasing items online through eCommerce platforms like Amazon Prime.

A business model which has been extremely successful since its inception over two decades ago!

Market segmentation plays a pivotal role in crafting targeted marketing strategies. Learn more about its significance and implementation in our article on The Importance of Market Segmentation, and discover how it can help businesses reach the right audiences with tailored messages.

When Available, Use As Much Data As Possible From Previous Surveys Or Research Methods

If you have access to previous research data, it can be used to help your new one. If you’ve done any type of usability testing before, that information can be useful as well. 

And if the product is already on the market and has been selling for some time, there will likely be customer surveys or focus groups available with data that could prove helpful in this process.

If your company has already conducted customer interviews or surveys, these too should be considered as part of your research plan.

Don’t Be Afraid Of Sometimes Going Against The Data 

It’s important to remember that while consumer testing can give you a lot of valuable insight into how people will react to your product, it’s only one piece of the puzzle. 

In many cases, consumers’ stated preferences won’t match up with their real-life behaviors and motivations. So while you should take what they say seriously, don’t get too hung up on it, and certainly don’t let it make or break your product!

If you have experience working with similar products before, use that knowledge as well when you’re making design decisions. You might find yourself asking questions like: Does this feature work similarly in other products? 

How does it feel for people who have used those products? Or maybe even: Why does [person x] like/dislike this kind of thing so much? 

These types of questions can help guide conversations about design choices long before any testing begins by helping us understand what people want from our product.

So we aren’t guessing at what might work best just because someone else did something similar (or worse yet…because “that’s just how things are done”).

Use A Clear And Consistent Scoring System For Your Evaluation Of The Usability Testing Research

A scoring system is a way of organizing and quantifying usability testing research data. Most commonly.

It looks like a table with columns for each participant’s level of satisfaction and questions asked during the test, and rows for each point (or category) on which they can be scored.

To make sure that your evaluators use the same scoring system, you should create one together with them before they start conducting their tests. 

It’s also important to keep in mind that consistency isn’t just about having a consistent scale it’s also about making sure everyone knows how to apply all those different scales consistently! 

For example: if your scale has two points at the bottom of its scale (very bad, very good), but someone asks for an evaluation for “good” (a third point).

Then this will lead to inconsistency between different evaluations because there won’t be any guidelines or rules on how much better something needs to be than “very bad” before it becomes “good” or any other value along that line.

Make sure everyone understands what kind of information you’re looking for when conducting user research.

So they don’t have any misconceptions about what types of responses are valid answers based on their perceptions or experiences from outside sources like friends/family members who may not always share similar opinions when trying out new products themselves.

Launching a new business idea requires solid market research. Dive into our guide on How to Conduct Market Research for Your New Business Idea to uncover essential steps and methods for gathering data that will guide your business decisions.

Define What Success Means For Your Product Before You Begin Usability Testing

Before you start usability testing, you need to know what success means for your product.

It’s important to define your goals and objectives for the usability test before you begin testing because it will help you choose the right participants, and guide how you lead them through tasks and focus questions.

And ensure that all of your research is aligned with your goals. When defining success be sure to incorporate both qualitative (how they feel) and quantitative (what they do) data into the definition.

Pay Attention To Patterns Rather Than Outliers

When you’re working with consumer testing, it’s easy to focus on the outliers. Do you know what happens when you focus on the outliers? You miss the patterns. 

This is true of consumer testing in general, but it’s especially true of consumer testing for new products: you want to get a glimpse of how people will use your product and what they’ll need from it.

So don’t focus on the exceptions! Don’t focus on negative experiences or positive ones; both are often valid and unique but aren’t particularly useful for understanding how a product fits into its market segment. 

Don’t ask yourself if something works or doesn’t work (or if a person liked something or not). Instead, ask yourself: what were their expectations? 

What did they think would happen before using this product? Where did those expectations meet reality? Where did those expectations fall short of reality?

Focus On What You Want To Know About Your Customers And Don’t Get Distracted By Irrelevant Information

While this sounds simple, it’s easy to get distracted by things that don’t matter. For example, if you want to know how long it takes your customers to use a certain feature on the site, don’t worry about how long they spend on other parts of the site that are unrelated to that feature. 

You also shouldn’t worry about outliers who take longer or shorter than others you’ll be comparing everyone else who uses that feature and not just these few people.

Embracing marketing research can lead to valuable insights for your business strategies. Gain a new perspective from our article, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Marketing Research, as we share experiences and tips on making the most of marketing research endeavors.

Conclusion

We hope that you now have a better understanding of the value of usability testing, and also how best to approach it in your product development. 

Remember that you will want to keep an open mind during this process, so don’t be surprised if there are some surprises along the way. 

It’s important not to get too attached to any one idea or feature before doing this kind of research; instead, be flexible and allow yourself to adjust the course as needed. The key is making sure you understand what matters most for your users.

Further Reading

Here are some additional resources that delve deeper into the topic of testing products and conducting market research:

Indeed Career Advice: How to Test a Product Short Description: Learn practical steps for effectively testing a product to ensure its viability and success in the market.

SurveyMonkey: Product Testing Short Description: Explore how to leverage surveys and product testing to gather valuable insights from your target audience.

Marketing Donut: Six Ways to Test Your Products on a Shoestring Budget Short Description: Discover cost-effective methods for testing your products even when resources are limited.

FAQs

How can I effectively test a new product?

Testing a new product effectively involves understanding your target audience, creating prototypes, and gathering feedback through surveys or focus groups.

What role does market research play in product testing?

Market research helps you understand customer preferences, identify potential competitors, and refine your product to better align with market demands.

Are there budget-friendly ways to test products?

Yes, there are budget-friendly options such as online surveys, social media polls, and prototype testing with a small group of potential customers.

How can I ensure my product testing is accurate?

To ensure accuracy, define clear testing objectives, use representative samples, and consider both qualitative and quantitative feedback.

What steps should I take after gathering product testing feedback?

After gathering feedback, analyze the results, make necessary improvements, and conduct additional rounds of testing if needed before launching the final product.