A business idea is simply an idea or idea that hasn’t yet been realized. They’re a dime dozen, and virtually everyone has come up with an idea for a service or product. Your idea is only valid when it is valuable or solves a need for the consumer you intend to serve without a lot of negatives or limitations. The time frame for your idea has to be set by offering something that’s beneficial and is not provided by direct or indirect competitors. Also, you should be prepared to change the product if needed.
The purpose of the Idea Merit Test
Before you begin drafting an outline of your business plan for your idea, start by conducting a short idea merit test. Then, write down the business’s idea on an article of paper to present to potential customers, who will then be asked to fill out a survey of one page to gauge their interest in the item and to get feedback. This will allow you to determine whether your concept is viable and then use the feedback to enhance your initial product or service concept.
This is The Idea Merit Test Questions
When you’ve written down your concept for your product or service on a piece of paper, you can ask 10 to 15 people from your customers to fill out an informal survey. The survey has ten questions. The first seven elements make use of a simple to use Likert scale that reads:
0 = Non-existent
1 = Minor degree
2 = Moderate degree but a little hazy
3 = Moderate degree, but quite clear
4 = Major degree
5 = Extreme degree
In what way is this business concept:
1. Bring value to the table or solve a challenge for me?
2. offer my immediate benefit?
3. Provide me with delayed benefits?
4. Are there limitations?
5. Have disadvantages?
6. Are they able to be altered or modifiable?
7. What is something that you would be willing to purchase in the near future?
The three final questions are a chance for feedback that will assist you in improving your concept:
8. Would you buy this product?
Yes
Maybe
No
If you answered ‘yes’, or maybe what would you be willing to pay? ___________
9. What do you love most about this idea for a business?
10. If you were able to make some improvements to the concept, what would those improvements be?
More Information About each Survey Question
1.) Value The majority of people do not buy products or services. They seek solutions to their issues and items that improve their lives. If they don’t see the worth in your concept, this will become apparent in the sum of your response.
2.) Instant Benefits: The majority of people would like to reap immediate advantages upon making a purchase. People place greater importance on immediate effects rather than delayed effects.
3.) Delay Benefits: Certain products or services might offer no immediate benefits for the consumer. However, the value that is created or the issue solved can be realized in months, weeks, or even longer in the future, for example, in financial investments.
4.) Limitations The positive side of limitations is that they are aspects of your product or service that it can’t do or the things that others are able to do better. Every product or service is not without limitations.
5.) Negatives: These are the positive aspects the product is not able to accomplish. Advantages are the negative aspects that arise as a result of the use of your product or service. They do not have to kill the concept, but the benefits should be clearly greater than the cost.
6.) Changes: Based on the weaknesses and limitations, the respondents might come up with ideas for changes. This will be evident in question #10.
7.) Window of Opportunity: Are people at the right place in their thinking, or is this actually the ideal timing to implement your idea right now? The ATM machine, as well as its companion, the ATM card, began to gain popularity during the middle of the 1990s. Most people do not know it was the ATM that was created in 1939. In 1939, people were not willing to let an automated system handle their money in place of a human. The opportunity to implement this notion was decades from now.
8. Willingness to Purchase Willingness to Purchase: This is a deeper inquiry into question 7 in that you ask them directly whether they would purchase it or not, as well as what price they are willing to spend. This information is essential prior to create an overall business plan.
9: What People Like Most: This gives you a glimpse into the most appealing part(s) that you have in your concept. We hope that people write good feedback in this section that you can expand upon.
10. Improvements: This is a way to get feedback on what they don’t think is appealing about the idea or things you would prefer to have changed. This is not considered negative feedback. Instead, take their advice to improve your idea and make it more effective.
Summary
Many young entrepreneurs believe that the first step in launching an enterprise is to write business strategies. It is the blueprint to execution. It is not advisable to invest any time, effort or any other resource in writing the plan until you’re sure that your plan is good enough. An easy and fast merit survey is a great tool for you to use.