The Simple Way To Validate Your SaaS Idea

You have an idea and you have already discussed it with developers, but to move closer to launching a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), you need an objective assessment? Here are some recommendations on how to do it.

Before writing the first line of code...

One of the most proven ways is the old-school option: try to get as close as possible to what the product will be, even BEFORE the development stage as such.

Example. We want to find out if people will pay for a program that helps manage their social media feed so that all work is done via email. You start manually organizing social networks for specific people — Twitter, LinkedIn, and others, where you can get schedules, and you send the results by email. You get feedback that it was very useful, and then you ask the mailing list participants: would they pay for such a service and how much?

Find the real value of your SaaS product and try to recreate it on a small scale, without prior app development. Then try to get paid for it. If you start getting real customers, it makes sense to start developing something more serious.

If the problem solved by the product is very complex, try to cast a line, offering the solution to potential consumers and see if they show interest in pre-sales or working with a demo version.

How to develop a minimum viable product. The top part of the picture — how not to do it, the bottom part — how to do it right

By not investing in development right away, you provide yourself the opportunity to maneuver after the product validation stage and save time and money that might otherwise be needed to redo the initial version.

5 Steps to Validate a Startup Product

Below are tips for validating a SaaS product, as well as questions you should ask yourself at this stage.

Step 1. Idea — brainstorm and research.

Research:

• Identifying competitors.
• Does this idea already exist?
• Can you implement it better, faster, cheaper?

Brainstorm:

• Are there real opportunities for revolution in the market?
• What current methods of solving the problem exist?
• What breakthrough technologies can solve the problem?
• Where did competitors fail?
• In search of new ideas, refer to non-competitive products.

Step 2. Plan — narrowing the focus of your product:

• Document your assumptions.
• Advance UX hypotheses.
• Set product goals.
• Define the MVP.
• What features must the product have to be saleable?
• Link functionality with product goals.
• Define success metrics.
• Outline the image of the ideal buyer (Buyer Persona).

Step 3. Sketches — how to use them to define the interface:

• Create a sitemap of the product.
• Sketch the interface with a simple pen and notebook.
• Think of tasks for the test users to perform.
• Show the connections between screens (information architecture).

Step 4. Clickable mockups — creating realistic demo versions of the product:

To create a realistic interface and mimic the flat design of each screen you've prepared earlier, use the following programs:

• for the desktop version — Photoshop, Sketch, or Axure;
• for mobile — AppCooker or Proto.io.
• Figma for both.

Use for example Invisionapp or Figma to connect flat design so that the user can click on buttons and move from screen to screen. This will give the tester a sufficiently "real" experience in solving tasks and answering questions about their viability.

Use real text of the future product in the mockups.

Step 5. Use questionnaires and surveys:

Collect qualitative and quantitative data confirming or refuting assumptions for each ideal buyer persona from step 2.

Repeat the "Design-Learning" cycle until all test participants can consistently complete all tasks. Quantitative data should confirm that the product is capable of solving a sufficiently pressing consumer issue and that the latter will be willing to pay for it.

Testers can be recruited on social networks — just ask people to share their valuable opinion on a new interesting product.

Conclusion

That's, in general, One of the process of validating a SaaS ideas. Of course, a few more details, examples, and explanations could be given, but if you follow at least the above recommendations, you will already be ahead of the rest.

You need to extract a small unit of value from your solution and show it to the customer. Start small, check interest in the product over time, and focus on solving the essence of the customer's problem.

Go have some great conversions!

Many thanks for reading!