Product Validation

Before you get started, watch the launch orientation video. It's important.

It will make sure you understand the high-level view of how this specific launch plan works and what to expect in the coming weeks.

Enjoy! 🙂

Template Overview

This template is unique in that it is a guide for what to do when you want to create a new product that your audience will buy.

Your product or service idea do not yet exist.

At the completion of this template you will have:

1. Identified the topics your audience is most interested in.
2. Selected the 2 categories upon which you'll build your product or service.
3. Brainstormed at least 3 product or service ideas for these 2 categories.
4. Chosen 1 product or service idea to vet with your audience.
5. Obtained feedback from and sold pre-purchases to up to 3 focus groups from your email list.
6. Determined whether your product or service idea is likely to sell to your audience.

If your product or service idea is successful after following this template, you’ll be ready to create it and launch it to your full audience.

Prerequisites (“What do you need to get started?”)

1. 10+ blog posts
2. An email list of at least 500 -1,000 subscribers
3. Google Analytics (or equivalent)
4. An email service provider such as Mailchimp or Aweber
5. Access to a spreadsheet tool such as Google Docs or Microsoft Excel

Duration (“How long will this take?”)

The entire process will take 4 weeks.

Steps Involved

1. Create a spreadsheet to categorize and analyze your audience’s interests.
2. Pick 2 categories for which to brainstorm product/service ideas.
3. Come up with at least 3 product/service ideas for these 2 categories.
4. Choose the top idea. (We'll provide a grading criteria for you.)
5. Create 3 small focus groups from your email list.
6. Share that idea with your first focus group, solicit feedback and pre-sell to those that are interested.
7. Make adjustments based on focus group feedback and then repeat with 2 more focus groups of increasing sample sizes.
8. Analyze results and determine if your product/service idea is likely to succeed. 10% pre-sales is the general metric we use to determine if our product/service is likely to sell.

Welcome to Week #1!

Get going by watching this week's overview video below...

This week consists of 3 simple but really important tasks:

1. You’ll identify the topics your audience is most interested in by researching your existing content. You’ll use a combination of site analytics and content upgrades or email clicks to assess your audience’s areas of interest.
2. You’ll list product and service ideas for your top 2 categories and select your favorite idea to vet with your audience.
3. You’ll create a detailed product description (a.k.a., product hypothesis) which will be used to gauge your audience’s interest in your idea.

Following this template, at the conclusion of this week you will have a research-guided product idea and sales pitch ready to test with your audience.

Common Sticking Points

Two places where people tend to get stuck completing this week’s tasks are:

1. Picking your product idea.
2. Naming your product.

Don’t allow yourself to get bogged down in these two areas. The point is to get an idea in front of your audience to get feedback. You’ll refine it over time.

Estimated Time to Complete

14 hours

Prerequisites

You'll need to have published at least 10 blog posts. If you have written fewer than 10 blog posts, write at least 10 total posts before moving forward.. If you need help figuring out what to write, read this guide to get started.

Overview

In this task, you will build a spreadsheet to categorize and analyze your site’s most popular content in order to determine the category your readers are most interested in. You will use this data to pick the product you will validate and build.

Instructions

Here is the high-level overview of the steps you'll complete in this task:

1. Create a Perfect Product Idea spreadsheet.
2. Log your top 10 most popular blog posts into the spreadsheet.
3. Log your popularity metrics besides each blog post 
4. Categorize each entry.
5. Total the categories to identify your 2 most popular categories of interest

Step 1: Create a Perfect Product Idea spreadsheet.

Create a new spreadsheet. (We typically use Google Sheets for this.)

Name the spreadsheet “Perfect Product Idea.” Name the first tab “Post Data.”

Add the following column headers:

1. Category
2. URL
3. Traffic
4. Opt-Ins (or Interest Points)
5. Total
6. Notes

Step 2: Log your top 10 most popular blog posts into the spreadsheet.

Access the Google Analytics account for your site.

Navigate to: Behavior → Site Content → All Pages

This shows you the most popular pages on your site.

Tips: You might want to expand the date range to ensure you get a "bigger picture" snapshot. The default range for Google Analytics is the past 30 days. I typically like to look at 90 -180 days of data to get a good sample size.

Copy and paste the traffic numbers from Google Analytics to the “Traffic” column in your spreadsheet.

Step 3: Log your 10 most popular email links and/or content upgrades into the spreadsheet.

Next, you want to identify an additional measurement that is a signal of your subscribers' interest in that article. Traffic alone can be misleading.

Two different options here:

1. Log the number of clicks received from your email announcement about this blog post.
2. Log the number of content upgrade opt-ins this post got. (If you don't use content upgrades, that's OK. Just use email clicks.)

Put this number in the Opt-In/Interest column of your spreadsheet.

Step 4: Categorize each entry.

For each entry in the spreadsheet, label it with a category that the article covers.

A typical blog will contain 3-5 categories. If you don't use a category system, that's ok too. Make it up on the fly by looking at each article and quickly jotting down the main area that the article covers. 

Just don't go overboard here. Five categories are plenty. 

Step 5: Total the categories and identify your 2 most popular categories of interest.

Create a new tab in your spreadsheet named “Data Overlap.”

Inside the new Data Overlap tab, add a column header for each category in your Post Data tab.

For each Data Overlap column, enter the value of the Post Data tab’s Total for each row in that category.

Sum each column in the Data Overlap tab. When you are finished, it should look like this.

The two largest totals represent your audience’s greatest topics of interest. It is these categories that are the most likely to lead to a successful, money-making product launch.

Note: Choosing a product category to focus on doesn’t always have to be entirely about the most page views and opt-ins. For example, suppose you had a single category that held 6 of your top 10 posts and opt-ins, yet ranked third in the totals list. You may choose to focus on this category instead because it is clearly something your audience is interested in.

We recommend you ask four key questions when selecting product categories:

1. Which category received the most traffic and opt-ins?
2. Which category had the most entries in the top 10?
3. Which category was most consistent in getting the audience’s attention?
4. Which category does your gut tell you would be the most successful?

Pick the two categories you wish to pursue.

Note that people tend to get bogged down at this step. Avoid over-analyzing here. 

Action Items

1. Create a Perfect Product Idea spreadsheet.
2. Log your top 10 most popular blog posts into the spreadsheet.
3. Log your 10 most popular email links and/or content upgrades into the spreadsheet.
4. Categorize each entry.
5. Total the categories and identify your 2 most popular categories.

Resource Links

Perfect Product Idea spreadsheet template

Estimated Time to Complete

4 hours

Overview

In this task, you will identify your best product or service idea from your two previously selected categories.

Instructions

Step 1: Brainstorm product and service ideas.

Open your Perfect Product Idea spreadsheet and add a new tab named “Product Hypothesis.”

Label the column headers with the two product categories you selected in the previous task.

Now, under each column header, list out every product idea that you can think of for each category. Include at least 3 per category.

Include a mixture of both products and services.

Tip: Review your blog posts related to each category and read through the comments to see what your readers are asking for clarification on and are having trouble with.

If you don’t have many comments on your blog, go to your contemporaries’ blog posts on similar subjects and look at their comment sections.

Write a brief description of the product or service idea—just enough to ensure you’ll clearly recall what you were thinking when you jotted it down.

Once you have brainstormed ideas for each category, your spreadsheet should something look like this:

Step 2: Select your favorite idea.

At this point, you have analyzed your most popular blog posts, identified the topics that your readers are most interested in and come up with a list of product and service ideas for each.

Now you need to pick one product or service idea to test.

Ask yourself these three questions to help make your decision:

1. Which product or service idea excites me the most?
2. What is my audience’s exact pain point in this category?
3. Which idea addresses that pain point the best?

Now, pick your favorite.

Avoid the tendency to over-analyze and spend too much time on this step. There is no perfect product or service idea. Follow your gut instinct. Throw a dart at the wall if necessary.

Action Items

1. Brainstorm product and service ideas for each category.
2. Use the filtering questions listed above to pick your product or service.

Resource Links

Perfect Product Idea spreadsheet template

Estimated Time to Complete

1 hour

Overview

In this task, you'll be writing a simple description of your product. You'll be using and improving this throughout your validation rounds.

Instructions

Create a new document to start writing out your description. (We use Google Docs for this.)

Title the document with your product or service idea.

Next, add a brief description of your product as the subtitle.

Then, take 2-3 pages to describe your product or service.

If possible, begin the description with a personal story about the struggles you have experienced with the problem that your product solves.

For example...

If you're selling services as a marriage counselor, start by telling a story about your marriage and your failed attempts to improve your marriage.

Storytelling is an extremely effective way to introduce the problem you’re solving and connect with your audience. 

Here is how I did that in the initial product description for our course, Get 10,000 Subscribers...

Why do some people absolutely crush it? And then others fight tooth and nail for every $1 they earn?

I'll tell you exactly what the secret is...

A few years back I read the 4-Hour Workweek and was super-pumped about building iPhone apps. My vision was to build a few apps, make a pile of cash, and retire to Costa Rica.

And then I did what few people do. I actually built two iPhone apps.

Only problem was, no one bought them. I lost $1,385 from that ordeal.

Contrast that failure with the launch of my coaching program. The coaching program has been a massive hit.

To date, it has grossed just over $75,000.

What was the difference?

Why did the iPhone apps flop and the coaching program take off?

Two words...

Email List.

As you describe the product, put yourself in the shoes of your potential customer.. 

What problem does this product solve?

Tell me a story to remind me of that problem.

What past attempts have I made at solving this problem?

Remind me about those.

What will life look like when I solve my problem.

Paint a clear picture of what success looks like.

The general outline of your product description should look like this:

1. A story that illustrated the problem the product solves.
2. A quick recap of 3-4 things I've attempted to do to solve the problem in the past.
3. A picture of what life looks life once I've solved the problem.
4. Introduce me to the product.
5. Give me a detailed overview of the product.
6. Answer any questions I might have.

Spend no more than 3 hours on this. You will refine the description over time through focus group feedback.

Don't overthink this step.

Resource Links

Sample Product Description from my first major product

Action Items

1. Outline your product description.
2. Write the full product description.

Estimated Time to Complete

3 hours

Congratulations, you made it through Week #1! 

Welcome to Week #2.

Here is a quick overview of what to expect...

Brief Recap

Last week you successfully:

1. Researched your existing site content to identify the categories your audience is most interested in.
2. Developed a shortlist of product and service ideas for your top 2 categories.
3. Chose 1 product idea to pursue for now.

Big Picture Context

This week you’re focused on getting your idea in front of a small segment of your email list for feedback. Next week you’ll expand it to a second focus group, and in Week #4, a third focus group.

Week Overview

This week consists of 6 tasks that can be broken down into 3 basic phases.

1. Identify a focus group of 50 people on your email list who are most likely to be interested in your product idea based on metrics such as email clicks and content upgrade opt-ins.
2. Create a series of assets to be used for this focus group and potentially up to 2 more focus groups. These assets include a feedback form, three email messages and a link where people can buy your product.
3. Test your product idea with this first focus group and analyze the findings.

At the conclusion of this week you will have:

1. Run your product or service idea past a small focus group.
2. Gathered valuable input regarding your product idea and your sales pitch.
3. Pre-sold your product or service to interested parties before it even exists.
4. The information needed to decide whether to proceed to the next step with your product idea. Our general gauge of success is having 10% of a focus group buy.

Estimated Time to Complete

17 hours

Overview

In this task, you will create the items (emails, surveys, etc.) you need to effectively validate your product idea with up to three small segments of your email list, which we call focus groups. If things go well with Focus Group 1, these assets will be tweaked and reused with Focus Groups 2 and 3.

Instructions

Step 1: Create a feedback form to be used to collect focus group input.

Create a simple form that will be used to collect feedback from willing focus group participants. We used a Google Form for this.

Here is a link to the Google Form we used on the Vault, for example.

The feedback form aims to answer three basic questions:

1. Do you want to buy this product?
2. What is the #1 thing that made you want to buy?
3. What do you wish this product had that it doesn’t?

Suggested data to capture would include:

1. Name
2. Email address
3. Do you want to buy? (Yes/No)
4. What feature(s) of the product/service most make(s) you want to buy? Why?
5. What questions did you think of while reading?
6. If we added one more thing to the product/service, what would you like it to be?

Ensure you mark key questions as required fields.

Step 2: Set up a link for pre-purchasing your product/service.

Your focus group will need an easy way to pre-order your product.. 

Go ahead and set up the pre-purchase address now.

If you don’t already have a shopping cart, we recommend using gumroad.com.

A few pointers:

1. Use Gumroad's pre-order feature.
2. Use Gumroad's pretty link feature. (This ensures they user doesn't get a long, convoluted link.) 
3. Don't get caught up in the listing's aesthetics or copy. Simply name the product, link to your product description and publish it.

Step 3: Create Email #1, asking focus group to provide feedback.

Beginning with this step, you’ll prepare 3 email messages for use in future tasks. You won't be sending these now, just roughing them out and getting the copy ready.

At this point, the focus is on creating the text of these messages with their various links.

In the next task you will identify your first focus group participants. The purpose of your first email is to get their permission to talk to them about your product.

Here is an example of Email #1. Copy and tweak it as needed.

Subject: can I get your opinion?

Body: 

Happy Tuesday afternoon!

A few weeks back, you downloaded my personal swipe file of 150+ landing pages.

Since you were interested in that, I wanted to get your thoughts on a big (and closely related) project that I’ve been working on for the last 8 months.

I'd like to get your feedback and opinion on it.

Interested?

-YOUR NAME

Step 4: Create Email #2, providing details to interested participants.

Draft a second email to get interested participants to give feedback on your product.

This email includes two key links:

1. Your detailed product description you created in an earlier task; 
2. Your feedback form, in which they can give their opinions on your product.

This email text is what you will send to each interested respondent from Email #1.

Here is an example Email #2.

Subject: re:can I get your opinion?

Body:

Here’s the scoop:

I’m building a resource called the Vault. It’s my private collection of resources I’ve used to grow Videofruit.

Can you do two things?

First, read the full details here:

Second, fill out this super-quick feedback form:

Thanks!

-YOUR NAME

PS: I’m planning to launch this resource later this month. I'd love for you to tell me how I can make it better.

Make sure you link to your detailed product description. Do not attach or insert it into the email. It’s too much information and will overwhelm the reader.

By getting real feedback from real customers, the sales pitch you use in your actual product launch will answer all potential objections and highlight the key features that you already know will draw in your ideal customers.

Step 5: Create Email #3 to answer questions and ask them to buy.

The third and final email you need is designed to do four things:

1. Thank them for taking the time to help you.
2. Answer all the questions they asked.
3. Acknowledge any feature requests.
4. Ask them to pre-order the product.

Here is an example Email #3 text you can copy and tweak.

Subject: re:can I get your opinion?

Body:

Thanks for filling out the survey, <customer’s name="">.

Good feedback too.

There are 5 slots left on the pre-sale then it closes down.

Would love to have you be a part of it:

-YOUR NAME

Here is an example of an Email #3 that I sent out when validating one of our products.

Do not be shy about asking for the sale at this point. They said they wanted to buy… so let them.

Okay, now you have all the resources ready to be able test your idea with Focus Group 1, which you will create in the next task.

Action Items

1. Draft all three emails outlined above.
2. Save them all into a document you can easily access in future steps.

Resource Links

Sample Feedback Form

Sample Email Swipe File

Estimated Time to Complete

4 hours

Overview

In this task, you’ll select 50 people from your email list to invite to provide feedback on your product idea (and, eventually, the opportunity to pre-purchase it).

Instructions

If you are using content upgrades, the preferable approach is to segment your email list by identifying the readers who downloaded the content upgrade for blog posts in the category of your product idea.

For example…

Before launching the Vault, we offered a content upgrade of 150+ landing page templates.

Whenever someone downloaded those templates, they were required to enter their email address, which allowed us to identify exactly who was interested in that topic.

Since the Vault included 100s of templates, we used those who downloaded the 150+ landing page templates as the Vault's focus group.

Using this method can significantly reduce the time required.

However, if you don’t use content upgrades or aren’t tracking the exact individuals who download them, you can create a similar segment by tracking who clicked the link in the broadcast email that was about a blog post closely aligned to your product’s topic.

For example, if you wrote a blog post about stand-up paddle boarding for pregnant women, and your product covers that same topic, go to your email service and create a segment that includes the people who clicked on the link in the email that announced that blog post., 

This is easily done with any major email service provider like MailChimp or AWeber. We’ve linked how-to articles from these two popular services in the resources below.

Action Items

1. Identify the behavior that you'll use to create your focus group (content upgrade downloads, clicks on relevant emails, etc.).
2. Create your focus group of 50 people.

Resource Links

How to Segment Your List (Aweber)

How to Segment Your List (Mailchimp)

Estimated Time to Complete

2 hours

Overview

In this task, you'll send the first outreach email to your focus group and invite them to help you. This step's purpose is to get your focus group's permission to ask them for help before you assume that they are game to help you. After they agree to help, you'll reach out to send your product description and survey to them in the next task.

Instructions

Open the Email #1 template you created in the previous task.

Add any needed personalization (e.g., address the recipient by name) and send the email to each of the 50 individuals in your first focus group.

It’s important that you manually send an email from your personal email account and do NOT automate this step. This is going to take time and that’s okay. You’re not in a race.

The purpose of this validation process is to find out if your subscribers are willing to buy the product, to fine-tune your message and to fine-tune the product itself.

By talking to each individual in the focus group, you'll have an incredibly good idea of their exact pain points and their desire for the product. You'll also gain informed intuition regarding your next steps.

If you need to review details regarding Email #1's content, refer to the resource link below.

Over the course of the week, you'll get replies from people that you'll need to respond to individually. We'll cover how to handle your responses in the next task.

Action Items

1. Open up your script for Email #1.
2. Customize and send Email #1 to all 50 people in your focus group.
3. Send all emails manually, through your personal email service. (Think Gmail, not MailChimp.)

Resource Links

Email #1 Template

Estimated Time to Complete

1 hour

Overview

A portion of those people you selected to be part of your first focus group will answer your email and be interested in helping you. In this task, you’ll send an individual email to each of these people, providing full instructions on what you need them to do, the links to your product's detailed description and access to your feedback form.

Instructions

A portion of your 50 focus group members to whom you sent Email #1 will have responded with interest in reviewing your product idea. You'll send Email #2 to each of these people.

But first, before we get to Email #2, take this opportunity to review who has not replied to Email #1. Send each of these a courtesy follow-up just in case they missed the original message or forgot. People are busy and sometimes forgetful, so give them one last chance to participate.

Here is an example of a follow-up email. The easiest way to create these messages is to find the first email you sent them and reply to it:

Subject: re: can I get your opinion?

Body:

Hi <name, if="" known="">,

Just wanted to quickly follow up with you regarding the message below. If you are interested and have a few minutes, I'd love to have your help with a new project I'm working on.

It'll take you about 10 min. of time, total.

If you are able, just hit reply and tell me yes.

If not, I totally understand. Sincerely,

-

Once you have followed up with everyone who hasn't replied, you'll need to follow up with everyone who did reply. 

Open a reply message to each of the willing participants who responded and said they'd be willing to help you. Use your Email #2 script to send them instructions on how they can help. 

Don’t forget: It's essential that Email #2 include links to your detailed product description and feedback form.

Add any needed personalization and send Email #2 to that individual.

Rinse and repeat for each willing participant in this focus group.

Remember to send personalized messages from your email account. Don't automated this. High-touch is important.

Over the course of the next week, you will get replies from people. You will need to respond to these individually. Follow-up is huge. Don't get lazy here.

Also, every time you answer someone's question, go back to your original product description. Add the question and answer to the bottom of the product description, in a FAQs section. If you notice the same questions popping up over and over again, modify the product description itself to answer that question.

One of the big things that this validation process allows you to do is to revise the product and the way you talk about the product. This way, when you do officially launch, the messaging and product description are 100% dialed in.

So use this one-on-one email interaction to start refining your product description.

If your product description doesn't change at least 10% to 20% between start and finish, you've most likely not done a good enough job of listening to your subscribers and accounting for their feedback and preferences in your product.

Action Items

1. Follow up with everyone who didn't respond to Email #1.
2. Email everyone who responded to Email #1 with your script for Email #2.
3. Adjust your product description with new features and Q&A as you field them in your outreach emails.

Estimated Time to Complete

1 hour

Overview

In this task, you follow up with those who said they wanted to buy your product in your survey, answer their questions, acknowledge their feature requests and ask them to buy.

Instructions

A subset of those who volunteered to provide feedback on your idea will respond to your survey and say they want to buy your product. Before sending Email #3, send a follow-up email to each of the people who received but haven’t responded to Email #2.

Here’s an example:

Subject: re: can I get your opinion?

Body:

Hi <name, if="" known="">,

Just wanted to quickly follow up with you on the new project you mentioned wanting to help out on. 

I’d really like your feedback.

Quick reminder on what you need to do...

Action item #1: Read this product description:

Action Item #2: Give me your opinion on the product here:

Thanks a ton!

-

Of those who have responded to Email #2, ignore or hide the results of any who said they did not want to buy the product.

Immediately answer the questions of and send a checkout link to those who said “Yes, I want to buy.”

Open and copy the text of Email #3 which you previously created.

Paste the Email #3 text in a reply to each interested buyer.

Remember, you need to do 4 things in this reply email:

Thing #1: Thank them for their time.

Thing #2: Answer any questions they asked.

Thing #3: Acknowledge any feature requests they sent in.

Thing #4: Ask them to pre-order the product.

Here is what that might look like in action:

Over the course of the next week, you will get replies from people in your focus group. Follow up with each reply as quickly as you can. Generally you need to respond in 12 hours or less.

As you begin seeing common themes in the focus group feedback, go back and incorporate these things into your detailed product description. Add requested features. Add a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section to the description and address each question your focus group asked. Build a story into your description that answers their questions.

Action Items

1. Follow up with any focus group members who haven't yet read your product description and completed the survey
2. Email everyone completed the survey and said they'd like to buy your product.
3. Continue adjusting your product description and FAQ section based on your individual correspondence with focus group members.

Estimated Time to Complete

1-8 hours

Overview

Review the data from your first focus group to figure your next steps.

The focus groups are intended to guide your next steps. 

• Is your product a good idea?
• Will your audience buy this product?
• What changes do you need to make to your messaging?
• How could the product be improved? 

The focus group provides answers to all of these and more. In this task, it’s time to analyze what you’ve learned from Focus Group 1.

Instructions

How do I determine if my focus group was a success?

10%.

That’s the number you are looking for.

10% of the people in your focus group who said they would help should buy the product.

For example, if 30 people out of the 50 in your initial focus group said they would give feedback, you’re looking for at least 3 of them to buy.

(If you are selling products that cost more than $400, adjust this number downward. And if you’re selling really low-priced products, less than $50, adjust it upwards.)

How did we come up with 10%?

Our thinking was that if we send an email to a highly targeted group of 50 people, personally talked to and helped them, and we still couldn’t get 10% of them to buy a product that they'd already shown some level of interest in, then it would be nearly impossible to get 100s of people who hadn’t shown interest in the product to buy it.

We've tested this 10% benchmark over and over, and it's proven to be a very accurate guide to a product's success. There are always outlier cases, so use common sense and informed gut intuition. 

Once your first round of focus group testing is complete, analyze the results to determine if 10% of the participants bought.

What if I miss my goal?

If less than 10% of your focus group buy your product, that doesn’t necessarily mean the product is a failure.

There could be any number of problems:

1. Your sales copy could be bad.
2. Your price could be too high (or too low).
3. You could have taken the wrong approach to solving the problem.

If you find yourself in this situation, we suggest testing each one of these potential problems with separate focus groups.

For example…

If your results come back and only 3% of your focus group participants bought, then rewrite your sales copy by using the questions and concerns that your first group expressed in their survey.

When we were following this process for the Vault, for example, one question that came up over and over again was “How are you going to protect the contractors in your Rolodex from getting overwhelmed and flooded with requests?”

So in the second round of testing we answered that question.

The results? A 20% increase in sales from Focus Group 1 to Focus Group 2.

Tweak your approach as needed based upon your Focus Group 1 results, and retest with a new 50-person focus group.

What happens when I hit my goal?

Do it again.

Yes, once you hit your 10% conversion rate, you need to do it again.

We recommend using a total of three focus groups to validate your results.

In fact, this template is built to guide you through all 3 focus groups. Woot!

Use the feedback from Focus Group 1 to make any tweaks to your product idea title, detailed product description, and/or email messages. For example, did people frequently ask the same question about your product? If so, consider addressing that question in your detailed product description.

Action Items

1. Analyze Focus Group 1 feedback.
2. Modify your email messages, pricing, product title and detailed description based on their feedback.
3. Move on to Focus Group 2 in the next task.

Resource Links

Sample Detailed Product Description

Estimated Time to Complete

1 hour

Congratulations, you completed Week #2 of your validation! 

You're halfway there!

Welcome to Week #3.

Here is a quick overview of what to expect this week...

Brief Recap

Last week you successfully:

1. Created 3 emails and a detailed product description to share with interested focus group members.
2. Segmented your email list into a 50-person focus group.
3. Gathered feedback from your first focus group.

Big Picture Context

Your product idea has passed the first test. You’ve made adjustments based on what you learned from your first focus group. This week you’ll repeat the previous steps with a second focus group.

Week Overview

This week is about refining your product offering and pitching the idea to a second, larger focus group.

You’ll send the same 3 emails as before to this second focus group and collect feedback.

Here’s how the week breaks down.

1. Identify a focus group of 100 people on your email list who are likely to be interested in your product idea.
2. With Focus Group 2, reuse the series of emails from Focus Group 1 (with appropriate changes based on what you've learned).
3. Test your product idea with this second focus group and analyze the findings.

At the conclusion of this week you will have:

1. Run your product or service idea past a second, larger focus group.
2. Gathered more valuable input regarding your product idea and your sales pitch.
3. Pre-sold your product or service to this second group.

Note: Be sure to keep following up with all Focus Group 1 participants who might be lagging behind. It could take another week for all of those open loops to close out. Work with them. Don't forget them.

Estimated Time to Complete

13 hours

Overview

In this task, you'll select a second group of 100 people from your email list to invite to provide feedback on your product idea. Gaining input from multiple focus groups increases your confidence in the feedback you receive, increases pre-sales and decreases the risk of creating and launching a product people won’t buy.

Instructions

Basically, repeat the steps from when you selected your first focus group.

We recommend your second focus group be 100 participants. (Remember, you will eventually create a third focus group as well.)

If possible, choose focus group members from those who have shown interest in your product category by clicking an email link or downloading a content upgrade(s) related to your idea.

This is easily done with any major email service provider like MailChimp or AWeber. We’ve linked how-to articles from these two popular services in the resources below.

Action Items

1. Create your focus group of 100 people.

Resource Links

How to Segment Your List (Aweber)

How to Segment Your List (Mailchimp)

Estimated Time to Complete

2 hours

Overview

It’s time to invite your second focus group members to participate in your product idea review. Kick-start the second round of feedback by inviting each person to participate.

Instructions

Open the Email #1 template.

Add any needed personalization (e.g., address the recipient by name) and send the email to each of the individuals in your second focus group.

It’s important that you manually send an email from your personal email account and do NOT automate this step. This is going to take time and that’s okay. You’re not in a race.

The purpose of this validation process is to find out if your subscribers are willing to buy the product, fine-tune your messaging and to fine-tune the product itself.

By talking to each individual in the focus group, you'll have an incredibly good idea of their exact pain points and desire for the product. You'll also gain informed intuition regarding your next steps.

If you need to review details about Email #1's content, refer to the resource link below.

Over the course of the week, you'll get replies from people that you will need to respond to individually. We'll cover how to handle your responses in the next task.

Action Items

1. Open up your script for Email #1.
2. Customize and send Email #1 to all 100 people in your second focus group.
3. Send all emails manually through your personal email service. (Think Gmail, not MailChimp.)

Resource Links

Email #1 Template

Estimated Time to Complete

1 hour

Overview

A portion of those people you selected to be part of your focus group will answer your email and be interested in helping you. In this task, you’ll send an individual email to each of these people, providing full instructions on what you need them to do, the links to  your product detailed description and access to your feedback form.

Instructions

A portion of your 100 focus group members to whom you sent Email #1 will have responded with interest in reviewing your product idea. You’ll send Email #2 to each of these people.

But first, before we get to Email #2, take this opportunity to review who has not replied to Email #1. Send each of these a courtesy follow-up just in case they missed the original message or forgot. People are busy and sometimes forgetful, so give them one last chance to participate.

Here is an example of a follow-up email. The easiest way to create these messages is to find the first email you sent them and reply to it:

Subject: re: can I get your opinion?

Body:

Hi <name, if="" known="">,

Just wanted to quickly follow up with you regarding the message below. If you are interested and have a few minutes, I'd love to have your help with a new project I'm working on.

It'll take you about 10 min. of your time, total.

If you are able, just hit reply and tell me yes.

If not, I totally understand. Sincerely,

-

Once you've followed up with everyone who hasn't replied, you'll need to follow up with everyone who did reply. 

Open a reply message to each of the willing participants who said they'd be willing to help you. Use your Email #2 script to send them instructions on how they can help. 

Don’t forget: It's essential that Email #2 include links to your detailed product description and feedback form.

Add any needed personalization and send Email #2 to that individual.

Rinse and repeat for each willing participant in this focus group.

Remember to send personalized messages from your email account. Don't automate this. High-touch is important.

Over the course of the next week, you will get replies from people. You will need to respond to individually. Follow-up is huge. Don't get lazy here.

Also, every time you answer someone's question, go back to your original product description. Add the question and answer to the bottom of the product description, in a FAQs section. If you notice the same questions popping up over and over again, modify the product description itself to answer that question.

One of the big things that this validation process allows you to do is to revise the product and the way you talk about the product. This way, when you do you officially launch, the messaging and product description are 100% dialed in.

So use this one-on-one email interaction to start refining your product description.

If your product description doesn't change at least 10% to 20% between start and finish, you've most likely not done a good enough job of listening to your subscribers and accounting for their feedback and preferences in your product.

Action Items

1. Follow up with everyone who didn't respond to Email #1.
2. Email everyone who responded to Email #1, with your script for Email #2.
3. Adjust your product description with new features and Q&A as you field them in your outreach emails.

Estimated Time to Complete

1 hour

Overview

In this task, you follow up with those who said they wanted to buy your product in your survey, answer their questions, acknowledge their feature requests and ask them to buy.

Instructions

A subset of those who volunteered to provide feedback on your idea will respond to your survey and say they want to buy your product. Before sending Email #3, send a follow-up email to each of the people who received but haven’t responded to Email #2.

Here’s an example:

Subject: re: can I get your opinion?

Body:

Hi <name, if="" known="">,

Just wanted to quickly follow up with you on the new project you mentioned wanting to help out on. 

I’d really like your feedback.

Quick reminder on what you need to do...

Action item #1: Read this product description:

Action Item #2: Give me your opinion on the product here:

Thanks a ton!

-

Of those who have responded to Email #2, ignore or hide the results of any who said they did not want to buy the product.

Immediately answer the questions of and send a checkout link to those who said “Yes, I want to buy.”

Open and copy the text of Email #3 which you previously created.

Paste the Email #3 text in a reply to each interested buyer.

Remember, you need to do 4 things in this reply email:

Thing #1: Thank them for their time.

Thing #2: Answer any questions they asked.

Thing #3: Acknowledge any feature requests they sent in.

Thing #4: Ask them to pre-order the product.

Here is what that might look like in action:

Over the course of the next week, you will get replies from people in your focus group. Follow up with each reply as quickly as you can. Generally you need to respond in 12 hours or less.

As you begin seeing common themes in the focus group feedback, go back and incorporate these things into your detailed product description. Add requested features. Add a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section to the description and address each question your focus group asked. Build a story into your description that answers their questions.

Action Items

1. Follow up with any focus group members who haven't yet read your product description and completed the survey.
2. Email everyone who completed the survey and said they'd like to buy your product.
3. Continue adjusting your product description and FAQ section based on your individual correspondence with focus group members.

Estimated Time to Complete

1-8 hours

Overview

Review the data from your second focus group to figure your next steps.

The focus groups are intended to guide your next steps. 

• Is your product a good idea?
• Will your audience buy this product?
• What changes do you need to make to your messaging?
• How could the product be improved? 

The focus group provides answers to all of these and more. In this task, it’s time to analyze what you’ve learned from Focus Group 2.

Instructions

How do I determine if my focus group was a success?

10%.

That’s the number you are looking for.

10% of the people in your focus group who said they would help should buy the product.

For example, if 60 people out of the 100 in your focus group said they would give feedback, you’re looking for at least 6 of them to buy.

(If you are selling products that cost more than $400, adjust this number downward. And if you’re selling really low-priced products, less than $50, adjust it upwards.)

How did we come up with 10%?

Our thinking was that if we send an email to a highly targeted group of 100 people, personally talked to and helped them, and we still couldn’t get 10% of them to buy a product that they'd already shown some level of interest in, then it would be nearly impossible to get 100s of people who hadn’t shown interest in the product to buy it.

We've tested this 10% benchmark over and over, and it's proven to be a very accurate guide to a product's success. There are always outlier cases, so use common sense and informed gut intuition. 

Once your second round of focus group testing is complete, analyze the results to determine if 10% of the participants bought.

What if I miss my goal?

If less than 10% of your focus group buys your product, that doesn’t necessarily mean the product is a failure.

There could be any number of problems:

1. Your sales copy could be bad.
2. Your price could be too high (or too low).
3. You could have taken the wrong approach to solving the problem.

If you find yourself in this situation, we suggest testing each one of these potential problems with separate focus groups.

For example…

If your results come back and only 3% of your focus group participants bought, then rewrite your sales copy by using the questions and concerns that your second group expressed in their survey.

When we were following this process for the Vault, for example, one question that came up over and over again was “How are you going to protect the contractors in your Rolodex from getting overwhelmed and flooded with requests?”

So in the second round of testing, we answered that question.

The results? A 20% increase in sales with Focus Group #1 vs. Focus Group #2.

Tweak your approach as needed based upon your Focus Group 2 results and retest with a new 100-person focus group.

What happens when I hit my goal?

Do it again.

Yes, once you hit your 10% conversion rate, you need to do it again.

We recommend using a total of three focus groups to validate your results.

In fact, this template is built to guide you through all 3 focus groups. Woot!

Use the feedback from Focus Group 2 to make any tweaks to your product idea title, detailed product description, and/or email messages. For example, did people frequently ask the same question about your product? If so, consider addressing that question in your detailed product description.

Action Items

1. Analyze Focus Group 2 feedback.
2. Modify your email messages, pricing, product title and detailed description based on their feedback.
3. Move on to Focus Group 3 in the next task.

Resource Links

Sample Detailed Product Description

Estimated Time to Complete

1 hour

Congratulations on making it to the final week!

You're almost finished validating your product!

Here is what to expect for the final week...

Brief Recap

Last week you successfully validated your product or service idea with a second focus group.

Big Picture Context

This week you conclude this Slingshot template by validating your idea with a third focus group. At that point, you’re ready to decide whether to create your product or service and launch it to your entire list.

Week Overview

This week you’ll repeat the steps of sending the 3 emails to this final third group and collecting feedback.

Here’s how the week breaks down:

1. Identify a focus group of 150 people on your email list who are likely to be interested in your product idea.
2. Reuse the series of emails from Focus Group 2 (with appropriate changes based on what you've learned).
3. Test your product idea with this third focus group and analyze the findings. Decide whether to build this product or offer this service to your entire list.

At the conclusion of this week you will have:

1. Run your product or service idea past a third, larger focus group.
2. Gathered more valuable input regarding your product idea and your sales pitch.
3. Pre-sold your product or service to this third group.
4. Gathered sufficient information to determine whether to pursue this product/service.

Estimated Time to Complete

15 hours

Overview

In this task, you'll select a third group of 150 people from your email list to invite to provide feedback on your product idea. Gaining input from multiple focus groups increases your confidence in the feedback you receive, increases pre-sales and decreases the risk of creating and launching a product people won’t buy.

Instructions

Basically, repeat the steps from when you selected your previous focus groups.

We recommend your third focus group consist of 150 participants.

If possible, choose focus group members from those who have shown interest in your product category by clicking an email link or downloading a content upgrade(s) related to your idea.

This is easily done with any major email service provider like MailChimp or AWeber. We’ve linked how-to articles from these two popular services in the resources below.

Action Items

1. Create your focus group of 150 people.

Resource Links

How to Segment Your List (Aweber)

How to Segment Your List (MailChimp)

Estimated Time to Complete

2 hours

Overview

It’s time to invite your third focus group members to participate in your product idea review. Kick-start the third round of feedback by inviting each person to participate.

Instructions

Open your Email #1 template.

Add any needed personalization (e.g., address the recipient by name) and send the email to each of the individuals in your third focus group.

It’s important that you manually send an email from your personal email account and do NOT automate this step. This is going to take time and that’s okay. You’re not in a race.

The purpose of this validation process is to find out if your subscribers are willing to buy the product, fine-tune your messaging and to fine-tune the product itself.

By talking to each individual in the focus group, you'll have an incredibly good idea of their exact pain points and their desire for the product. You'll also gain informed intuition regarding your next steps.

If you need to review details regarding the contents of Email #1's content, refer to the resource link below.

Over the course of the week, you'll get replies from people that you'll need to respond to individually. We'll cover how to handle your responses in the next task.

Action Items

1. Open up your script for Email #1.
2. Customize and send Email #1 to all 150 people in your focus group.
3. Send all emails manually, through your personal email service. (Think Gmail, not MailChimp.)

Resource Links

Email #1 Template

Estimated Time to Complete

1 hour

Overview

A portion of those people you selected to be part of your focus group will answer your email and be interested in helping you. In this task, you’ll send an individual email to each of these people, providing full instructions on what you need them to do, the links to  your product's detailed description and access to your feedback form.

Instructions

A portion of your 150 focus group members to whom you sent Email #1 will have responded with interest in reviewing your product idea. You'll send Email #2 to each of these people.

But first, before we get to Email #2, take this opportunity to review who has not replied to Email #1. Send each of these a courtesy follow-up just in case they missed the original message or forgot. People are busy and sometimes forgetful, so give them one last chance to participate.

Here is an example of a follow-up email. The easiest way to create these messages is to find the first email you sent them and reply to it:

Subject: re: can I get your opinion?

Body:

Hi <name, if="" known="">,

Just wanted to quickly follow up with you regarding the message below. If you are interested and have a few minutes, I'd love to have your help with a new project I'm working on.

It'll take you about 10 min. of time, total.

If you are able, just hit reply and tell me yes.

If not, I totally understand. Sincerely,

-

Once you have followed up with everyone who hasn't replied, you'll need to follow up with everyone who did reply. 

Open a reply message to each of the willing participants who said they'd be willing to help you. Use your Email #2 script to send them instructions on how they can help. 

Don’t forget: It's essential that Email #2 include links to your detailed product description and feedback form.

Add any needed personalization and send Email #2 to that individual.

Rinse and repeat for each willing participant in this focus group.

Remember to send personalized messages from your email account. Don't automated this. High-touch is important.

Over the course of the next week, you will get replies from people. You will need to respond to these individually. Follow-up is huge. Don't get lazy here.

Also, every time you answer someone's question, go back to your original product description. Add the question and answer to the bottom of the product description, in a FAQs section. If you notice the same questions popping up over and over again, modify the product description itself to answer that question.

One of the big things that this validation process allows you to do is to revise the product and the way you talk about the product. This way, when you do you officially launch, the messaging and product description are 100% dialed in.

So use this one-on-one email interaction to start refining your product description.

If your product description doesn't change at least 10% to 20% between start and finish, you've most likely not done a good enough job of listening to your subscribers and accounting for their feedback and preferences in your product.

Action Items

1. Follow up with everyone who didn't respond to Email #1.
2. Email everyone who responded to Email #1, with your script for Email #2.
3. Adjust your product description with new features and Q&A as you field them in your outreach emails.

Estimated Time to Complete

1 hour

Overview

In this task, you follow up with those who said they wanted to buy your product in your survey, answer their questions, acknowledge their feature requests and ask them to buy.

Instructions

A subset of those who volunteered to provide feedback on your idea will respond to your survey and say they want to buy your product. Before sending Email #3, send a follow-up email to each of the people who received but haven’t responded to Email #2.

Here’s an example:

Subject: re: can I get your opinion?

Body:

Hi <name, if="" known="">,

Just wanted to quickly follow up with you on the new project you mentioned wanting to help out on.

I’d really like your feedback.

Quick reminder on what you need to do...

Action item #1: Read this product description:

Action Item #2: Give me your opinion on the product here:

Thanks a ton!

-

Of those who have responded to Email #2, ignore or hide the results of any who said they did not want to buy the product.

Immediately answer the questions of and send a checkout link to those who said “Yes, I want to buy.”

Open and copy the text of Email #3 which you previously created.

Paste the Email #3 text in a reply to each interested buyer.

Remember, you need to do 4 things in this reply email:

Thing #1: Thank them for their time.

Thing #2: Answer any questions they asked.

Thing #3: Acknowledge any feature requests they sent in.

Thing #4: Ask them to pre-order the product.

Here is what that might look like in action:

Over the course of the next week, you will get replies from people, which you will need to respond to individually.

Over the course of the next week, you will get replies from people in your focus group. Follow up with each reply as quickly as you can. Generally you need to respond in 12 hours or less.

As you begin seeing common themes in the focus group feedback, go back and incorporate these things into your detailed product description. Add requested features. Add a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section to the description and address each question your focus group asked. Build a story into your description that answers their questions.

Action Items

1. Follow up with any focus group members who haven't yet read your product description and completed the survey.
2. Email everyone who completed the survey and said they'd like to buy your product.
3. Continue adjusting your product description and FAQ section based on your individual correspondence with focus group members.

Estimated Time to Complete

1-8 hours

Overview

In this final task, you'll review the data from all three focus groups and decide whether to launch this product or service to your entire audience.

Instructions

Congratulations on reaching the final step of this journey!

Alright, the data is all in. It’s time to make some decisions.

Review the input from Focus Group 3. Did 10+% buy? Do you need to make changes based on their feedback?

I Got 10+% in Pre-sales!

If you’ve gotten 10+% pre-sales from your three focus groups, congratulations! Go build your product or service. When you’re ready to launch, come back to Slingshot and choose one of our full launch templates to help you execute a successful launch.

I Didn’t Reach 10%

If you didn’t reach 10%, you have a decision to make:

• Continue making adjustments to this idea and retesting with other groups, or…
• Suspend work on this specific idea for now.

If you feel stuck, reach out to us at [email protected]. We’ll help you.

If you decide not to pursue this idea for now, go back to your list of product and service ideas and choose another idea to pursue. Then repeat the plan on that idea.

Be persistent. Just because one idea didn’t take off doesn’t mean you have failed or that you can’t succeed at selling a product or service. Sometimes ideas are good, but the timing or audience is just off for some reason.

Action Items

1. Review data from Focus Group 3.
2. Revise your product idea as needed based on feedback.
3. Evaluate overall findings from the 3 focus groups and decide whether to create your product or service and launch it to your entire audience.

Estimated Time to Complete

1 hour