So you’ve got a great idea for a product. What do you do next?
One of the single most important things you can do is to validate your product idea before you go ahead and start creating or manufacturing your product.
I want you to have to be confident that your product will sell before you start investing in creating it. So today I am going to share 5 free ways to validate your product idea. All they're going to cost you is time, which in my opinion is time well spent.
Listen in to hear me share:
USEFUL RESOURCES:
My accompanying Blog Post: 5 Quick (and free) ways to validate your product ideas
Jungle Scout Paid Software - Affiliate Link
Blog post on how to use JungleScout
Podcast Episode 103: How to run a successful crowdfunding campaign - with Jes Baily, Crowdfund 360
Free guide, 7 free ways to validate your product idea
Should I sell my product on Amazon mini strategy session
LET’S CONNECT
Join my free Facebook group for product makers and creators
Mentioned in this episode:
Support this podcast for the price of a coffee
if you loved this episode please consider sending me a one-off tip. It helps me to keep bringing this podcast to you, for free. If you'd like to support this podcast, you can do so here: https://bring-your-product-idea.captivate.fm/support
Proudly sponsored by Tonbridge Accountants
Welcome to Tonbridge Accountants, where creativity meets clarity in business finance. Wendy and Laughton are not just accountants; they're your partners in navigating the complexities of business finance. We simplify VAT, corporation tax, and crucial cash flow management, guiding you through decisions like company purchases or setting up a new business. Our approach is personal. We work closely with creative entrepreneurs, providing a virtual finance office that ensures you have the financial support and clarity your business needs to thrive. With us, it's more than accounting; it's about empowering your creative venture with strategic financial insights. Tonbridge Accountants is the partner you need to unlock financial clarity and freedom, allowing you to focus on what you do best: creating. We're the missing piece in your creative journey, ready to transform your business finance into a strength. WEBSITE: https://tonbridgeaccountants.co.uk/
Welcome to the Bring Your Product Ideas to Life podcast, practical advice
Speaker:and inspiration to help you create and sell your own physical products.
Speaker:Here's your host, Vicki Weinberg.
Vicki Weinberg:Hello and welcome to this week's episode.
Vicki Weinberg:I am recording this with a bit of a cold, so apologies in
Vicki Weinberg:advance if I sound a little bit croaky while I'm talking to you.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, so in episode 135, I talked about how to come up with product
Vicki Weinberg:ideas, and today I wanted to talk to you about what to do next so you've
Vicki Weinberg:got a great idea for a product.
Vicki Weinberg:So then what?
Vicki Weinberg:I have talked about this topic before, but as I work on my book, which is both scary
Vicki Weinberg:and exciting, um, you'll find out about more about that in the new year hopefully.
Vicki Weinberg:I'm revisiting a lot of old podcast episodes and blog posts, um, while I'm
Vicki Weinberg:looking at the content and I've started to realize that um, since I originally
Vicki Weinberg:recorded, um, the first podcast episode on this subject, things have moved on.
Vicki Weinberg:Some things have changed.
Vicki Weinberg:You know, for example, Covid has changed a lot in the world, and also
Vicki Weinberg:I've learned a load of things from podcast guests that I've spoken to,
Vicki Weinberg:and I feel like it's time to revisit some of my most popular episodes.
Vicki Weinberg:I'm really keen to do this one now, as I believe that validating your product
Vicki Weinberg:ideas before you actually go ahead and create your product is really important,
Vicki Weinberg:particularly now when things are for a lot of us, you know, pretty tight.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, I love this topic.
Vicki Weinberg:As I've said.
Vicki Weinberg:I talk about this a lot and you've probably heard me, but I'll say, I don't
Vicki Weinberg:think it matters how much or how little it costs to create your product if
Vicki Weinberg:you'll never see a penny of this again.
Vicki Weinberg:You know, even if your product is, costs pennies to produce, if you are never
Vicki Weinberg:going to get that money back and it's, you know, and you're doing it as a business,
Vicki Weinberg:then obviously that doesn't work.
Vicki Weinberg:And as I say, I know that you know, things, well you know, it's hard now,
Vicki Weinberg:and I feel like if you are going to be spending some money on creating a
Vicki Weinberg:product, I think it is a bit less scary.
Vicki Weinberg:Don't get me wrong, it's a little bit scary.
Vicki Weinberg:It always is, but it's a bit less scary if you have a good idea that
Vicki Weinberg:your product will sell well, that it's as good a product as it can
Vicki Weinberg:be, and it'll make you a profit.
Vicki Weinberg:If you have absolutely no idea and you're going to it blind, it's a huge gamble.
Vicki Weinberg:So all that being said, that's to summarize, I guess.
Vicki Weinberg:I think that validating your product ideas before you spend
Vicki Weinberg:any money on creating them is well worth doing, particularly now.
Vicki Weinberg:However, I also don't want you to spend a lot of money on this, so I'm
Vicki Weinberg:going to share with you today five free ideas to validate your products.
Vicki Weinberg:All they're going to cost you is time.
Vicki Weinberg:However, in my opinion, this is time well spent.
Vicki Weinberg:I do have a download to um, two, which is called Seven Free Ways
Vicki Weinberg:to Validate Your Product Ideas.
Vicki Weinberg:I'll be honest, this is really old, but it's still very relevant and you can
Vicki Weinberg:get that via the link in the show notes.
Vicki Weinberg:So the first free thing that you can do to find out if your product has
Vicki Weinberg:a chance of selling, is to find your customers and ask them some questions.
Vicki Weinberg:So what we're going to start by doing is thinking about your potential
Vicki Weinberg:customers and who they are, and I suggest you take five to ten minutes
Vicki Weinberg:to really think about what kind of person would buy your product.
Vicki Weinberg:I actually think it's worth writing this down as well.
Vicki Weinberg:So for example, you might want to think about what stage of life they're at.
Vicki Weinberg:So are they new parents?
Vicki Weinberg:Are they graduates?
Vicki Weinberg:Are they retired?
Vicki Weinberg:Um, roughly how old are they?
Vicki Weinberg:Maybe where they live, and that doesn't need to be really specific.
Vicki Weinberg:It might be that at the moment you're just thinking of selling your product
Vicki Weinberg:in the UK for example, you might want to think about what interest they
Vicki Weinberg:have, which social media channels they use, if any, where they shop.
Vicki Weinberg:Do they shop online or do they still shop in person?
Vicki Weinberg:Um, as much information as you can about the person you
Vicki Weinberg:think might buy your product.
Vicki Weinberg:And don't worry if you're guessing and also don't feel like you're sort
Vicki Weinberg:of pigeon hole in things either.
Vicki Weinberg:I know this is really tricky.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, I always used to find these sort of ideal customer, right?
Vicki Weinberg:Client exercises, really hard work, and I also used to sort of wonder at the point
Vicki Weinberg:of them, but when it comes to products, it is really good to know who your product
Vicki Weinberg:is for because the next thing you really need to do, and we'll talk about this in
Vicki Weinberg:a moment, is speak to those people and get a little bit of insight into what they'd
Vicki Weinberg:be looking for for a product like yours.
Vicki Weinberg:And importantly, whether it's something they would even consider buying.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, while we're on the subject, and again, you've heard me say this
Vicki Weinberg:before, but do not just ask your friends and family for their opinions.
Vicki Weinberg:I know that going, you know, thinking about your ideal customer
Vicki Weinberg:finding, finding them, going, asking questions, it is a lot of work.
Vicki Weinberg:Please don't skip this and think well, I'll just ask the people who live in my
Vicki Weinberg:house, or I'll just ask my best friends, or, um, and there's a few reasons why not.
Vicki Weinberg:One is that they might not be your ideal customer.
Vicki Weinberg:So I've used this example before, if you were looking to create a product for new
Vicki Weinberg:mums, and let's say your granddad says, well, I think that's a terrible idea.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, that, not that it wouldn't matter what he thinks or, um, his point of view isn't.
Vicki Weinberg:But you know, isn't important.
Vicki Weinberg:However, it's not really that relevant if he's not the person that would be
Vicki Weinberg:buying that product in the first place.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, and so, you know, I wouldn't want you to be overly disheartened if perhaps
Vicki Weinberg:people you ask aren't as keen on your idea as you are because your friends
Vicki Weinberg:and family might not be objective.
Vicki Weinberg:The thing is as well, is you also might get the fact that you know, they want
Vicki Weinberg:to support you, so maybe they are not thr best people to buy your product
Vicki Weinberg:because they want to support you.
Vicki Weinberg:They say yes, yes.
Vicki Weinberg:That's brilliant.
Vicki Weinberg:That sounds great.
Vicki Weinberg:Everything you're saying is great.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, and you know, they've got the best of intentions, but actually that might
Vicki Weinberg:not be the most helpful thing for you.
Vicki Weinberg:Or they might go the other way and they might, you know, be a little bit cautious.
Vicki Weinberg:They might think ooh, the economy's hard at the moment.
Vicki Weinberg:Starting a business is tricky.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, and, you know, try and not, not put you off, but just, you
Vicki Weinberg:know, air on the side of caution.
Vicki Weinberg:And while we are on the subject, I should also say that even if you believe that
Vicki Weinberg:you are your ideal customer, so perhaps you are, you know, you're creating a
Vicki Weinberg:product that solves a need that you have, like we spoke about in the previous
Vicki Weinberg:episode, um, that doesn't mean you don't have to do any customer research.
Vicki Weinberg:Just remember that you are one person and ideally you want input from lots of
Vicki Weinberg:other people and hopefuly other people you speak to will have the same issues as you.
Vicki Weinberg:Well, not hopefully have the same issues, but you know what I mean.
Vicki Weinberg:Hopefully they will also have a need for your product.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, hopefully they will also really like your product idea, but
Vicki Weinberg:if they don't or have different ideas, do take those on board.
Vicki Weinberg:Because the purpose of, you know, doing this work, which is hard by the way, is to
Vicki Weinberg:find out, you know, make well two things.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, find out if your product is something that people would buy,
Vicki Weinberg:and find out what people are looking for from a product like yours.
Vicki Weinberg:So you can make it as good as you can be.
Vicki Weinberg:So once you've worked out who your ideal customer is, chances are, you might
Vicki Weinberg:know some people already who fit that.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, although do sort of bear in mind what I said before about just asking
Vicki Weinberg:your friends, and if you don't, then you can always try asking around for
Vicki Weinberg:people who, who might know these people.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, another way of finding people and a large group of people at this
Vicki Weinberg:stage anyway, is probably online, so I'm thinking Facebook groups here,
Vicki Weinberg:if I'm honest, because you can get Facebook groups for most things.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, in a minute I'm going to talk about other ways you can use them, but I think
Vicki Weinberg:Facebook groups could be a really good way to get some input on your product ideas.
Vicki Weinberg:I mean, you don't need to run a full-blown focus group.
Vicki Weinberg:I'm not saying you need to do that unless you particularly want to.
Vicki Weinberg:You could have a short online questionnaire.
Vicki Weinberg:And so if you were, were using Facebook groups for example, you could ask
Vicki Weinberg:whoever is the owner of that group, if you could put a link to your
Vicki Weinberg:questionnaire or you could just ask one or two questions in the group.
Vicki Weinberg:Or you could say, is there anyone in this group who would like to talk
Vicki Weinberg:to me about, about my, my ideas, Um, however you want to approach it.
Vicki Weinberg:However you feel would work best for you.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, and of course, you know, if you're unsure, then always ask whoever
Vicki Weinberg:runs a Facebook group before just going ahead, um, posting in there.
Vicki Weinberg:I actually have a free Facebook group for product creators.
Vicki Weinberg:You're always welcome to come in and ask these sorts of questions if you feel like
Vicki Weinberg:the people in the group are your ideal customers, or some of them might be.
Vicki Weinberg:And even if you're not sure, can't, you know, come in and ask
Vicki Weinberg:us, that's no problem at all.
Vicki Weinberg:And you can get the link to that group in the show notes.
Vicki Weinberg:So whether you're asking people questions in person or you're on the phone, or
Vicki Weinberg:you're asking Facebook groups, the kind of things it would be useful
Vicki Weinberg:for you to know, first of all, is how relevant your product idea is to them.
Vicki Weinberg:So if you share your idea and go, does this sound interesting to you?
Vicki Weinberg:Does this sound relevant?
Vicki Weinberg:And they go, well, not really.
Vicki Weinberg:This means either one of two things.
Vicki Weinberg:Either they're not your ideal customer.
Vicki Weinberg:So maybe you need to be looking somewhere else or there's something
Vicki Weinberg:about your idea that isn't quite working and perhaps needs a bit of tweaking.
Vicki Weinberg:The second thing I think it'd be useful to know is what they
Vicki Weinberg:like or dislike about your idea.
Vicki Weinberg:Perhaps like and dislike, because that gives you some feedback on where you can
Vicki Weinberg:optimize it and where you can improve it.
Vicki Weinberg:And the things they like can also help you with your marketing
Vicki Weinberg:and your communications.
Vicki Weinberg:Because if, if everyone's telling you, oh, I really like this thing,
Vicki Weinberg:then possibly that's a feature that will potentially be quite popular.
Vicki Weinberg:Now if your idea isn't fully formed yet, so you know you want to create a
Vicki Weinberg:product, but you're not entirely sure.
Vicki Weinberg:Exactly what that product looks like or how it works.
Vicki Weinberg:You might be able to find out what they like or dislike about other
Vicki Weinberg:similar products, if similar products exist, or what their wishlist
Vicki Weinberg:would be for a brand new product.
Vicki Weinberg:So if this is a totally original idea, you could say, okay, if there was
Vicki Weinberg:a product that solved this specific problem you have, um, what would it do?
Vicki Weinberg:What would it consist of?
Vicki Weinberg:What would it be?
Vicki Weinberg:And that could really help you.
Vicki Weinberg:Then the final thing I think it would be useful to know is what they'd expect
Vicki Weinberg:to pay for a product like yours, because that gives you a bit of a baseline for
Vicki Weinberg:where you could be potentially pricing it.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, this is tricky.
Vicki Weinberg:And when it comes to pricing, um, I have a whole podcast episode
Vicki Weinberg:on pricing you could listen to.
Vicki Weinberg:Actually, this isn't the only thing I would do to work out how to
Vicki Weinberg:price your product, but I do think taking into account what potential
Vicki Weinberg:customers think is really important.
Vicki Weinberg:So the second free thing you, you can do to validate your product idea,
Vicki Weinberg:um, comes back again to Facebook groups or maybe other online forums.
Vicki Weinberg:I know others do exist.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, nothing beats asking people for input, as I've said, but for any
Vicki Weinberg:reason that's not right for you or that's not right for you at the moment.
Vicki Weinberg:You can get a lot of information from more passive online research.
Vicki Weinberg:So what I mean by that is you can go into relevant Facebook groups or other
Vicki Weinberg:online forums and you can see what kind of conversations people are having.
Vicki Weinberg:And you can use the search function to find discussions that might be relevant.
Vicki Weinberg:So as an example, um, recently I was looking to buy a dress and the brand
Vicki Weinberg:that I was looking to buy for has a Facebook group for its fans or followers
Vicki Weinberg:or customers if you want to call them.
Vicki Weinberg:And so one of the first things I did was to search in a group for
Vicki Weinberg:the product I was interested in because I wanted to see pictures of
Vicki Weinberg:people wearing it, um, you know, on different heights and different sizes.
Vicki Weinberg:I wanted to read the comments and I sure got loads of information I found.
Vicki Weinberg:You know that they size is a little bit small.
Vicki Weinberg:So maybe to size up, I got some good tips about washing and caring for the product,
Vicki Weinberg:um, how to wear it and how to style it.
Vicki Weinberg:And I got all of that without asking a single question.
Vicki Weinberg:So you could do something similar.
Vicki Weinberg:So if your product was for mums, for example, and you enter in a
Vicki Weinberg:mum's group, and let's say my first product was Muslin to Baby, so
Vicki Weinberg:let's use muslins as an example.
Vicki Weinberg:I could have gone into a Facebook group for mums and I could have searched for
Vicki Weinberg:muslims, and I'm sure there would've been, you know, at this time some
Vicki Weinberg:posts, some people saying, I don't know, do I need Muslims for my baby?
Vicki Weinberg:Or, I'm looking to buy some, which branch should I go for?
Vicki Weinberg:Or, um, how do I get stains out?
Vicki Weinberg:Or whatever it is.
Vicki Weinberg:And there would've been some really useful discussions that
Vicki Weinberg:I could have taken things from.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, that doesn't mean, by the way, joining groups for specific brands.
Vicki Weinberg:So if your product was running related as an example, you could join groups
Vicki Weinberg:of runners and see what kind of things your ideal customers are interested in,
Vicki Weinberg:what concerns them, things like that.
Vicki Weinberg:And I would say the more niche you can go, the better.
Vicki Weinberg:So if your product was aimed at female runners trying by female
Vicki Weinberg:running groups, for example.
Vicki Weinberg:So I think, again, this is something that can take a little bit of work
Vicki Weinberg:and a little bit of time, but it is free and you can find out lots and
Vicki Weinberg:lots of information by doing this.
Vicki Weinberg:So my third free idea for getting some free product research is
Vicki Weinberg:to look at similar products on Amazon and read the review.
Vicki Weinberg:Reason bim?
Vicki Weinberg:Well, one is good to know if there's anything similar on the market right
Vicki Weinberg:now, and if there is, it would be really useful for you to know do people buy it?
Vicki Weinberg:How much do they pay for it?
Vicki Weinberg:What do they think about it?
Vicki Weinberg:And you can find this all out online.
Vicki Weinberg:I recommend using Amazon for this because there's a huge range
Vicki Weinberg:of products and most will have reviews you can read and land from.
Vicki Weinberg:And if the product you're interested in don't have reviews, then obviously
Vicki Weinberg:think about what this tells you as well.
Vicki Weinberg:Of course, you can use other sites for this.
Vicki Weinberg:You could use Etsy, for example, if that suits your products a little bit better.
Vicki Weinberg:Or you could use any online marketplace.
Vicki Weinberg:As I say, the reason I like Amazon is because for lots and lots of
Vicki Weinberg:products, they're, they're on there.
Vicki Weinberg:And even if it's not somewhere you ever intend to sell, um, if your competitors
Vicki Weinberg:are there, well one, if your competitors there, it's worth thinking about
Vicki Weinberg:wherever it is somewhere for you to be.
Vicki Weinberg:But even if you're adamant, no, I don't want to sell on Amazon, that's fine.
Vicki Weinberg:But you know, I think.
Vicki Weinberg:The number of reviews on there and what they can tell you is a
Vicki Weinberg:reason to at least take a look.
Vicki Weinberg:So what I would suggest you do, I was just, you go onto Amazon, you
Vicki Weinberg:search your products, they're similar to yours or maybe in the same niche
Vicki Weinberg:as yours, and you take some notes.
Vicki Weinberg:So I would write down the features of the different products, I would write down
Vicki Weinberg:the price and I would take, pay really key attention to what the reviews say.
Vicki Weinberg:And this is for both positive and negative feedback.
Vicki Weinberg:Because when you are creating your product, this is your opportunity
Vicki Weinberg:to refine your product, to include the things that are popular.
Vicki Weinberg:Or to make improvements.
Vicki Weinberg:So if everyone says, oh, you know, they love the packaging for a specific
Vicki Weinberg:product, not saying copy it by any means, but let's say there's something
Vicki Weinberg:different about the packaging.
Vicki Weinberg:Let's say most similar products come in a box, but um, that, you know,
Vicki Weinberg:you are looking at example, it just comes from a belly band and all the
Vicki Weinberg:customers are saying, this is great because there's less packaging and
Vicki Weinberg:we don't need all this packaging.
Vicki Weinberg:You know, take note of that.
Vicki Weinberg:Or if everyone says, and this product feels a bit flimsy.
Vicki Weinberg:Take note of that because if you were going to make that product, you could
Vicki Weinberg:make something a bit more substantial.
Vicki Weinberg:And also think about what people say about the price as well.
Vicki Weinberg:Because when you read reviews, I'm sure you've seen this yourself.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, I read so many reviews that go, well, I can't believe this was of course
Vicki Weinberg:this much or I got this in the sale.
Vicki Weinberg:Well, I'm really glad because I wouldn't pay the full price for it.
Vicki Weinberg:And of course there will be people who are always going to say that, but do
Vicki Weinberg:pay attention because you'll also read reviews who go, this is worth every penny.
Vicki Weinberg:This is expensive but I can see why it's worth it.
Vicki Weinberg:And if you're reading reviews that think, say things like that,
Vicki Weinberg:really look at that product.
Vicki Weinberg:What, what is it that makes it worth the money?
Vicki Weinberg:What is it that justifies that price?
Vicki Weinberg:Um, as a rather real example of this, how I used this when I was launching my
Vicki Weinberg:bamboo bowls, which was a few years ago.
Vicki Weinberg:Now I don't sell them anymore, so, my goals were slightly different in two ways.
Vicki Weinberg:One is they were quite large.
Vicki Weinberg:They were slightly larger than others on the market, which actually sort of was
Vicki Weinberg:something across all of my products, but they also had really minimal branding.
Vicki Weinberg:Reason being is when I was looking review, at reviews, I'd read lots of them about,
Vicki Weinberg:basically with two things I've read.
Vicki Weinberg:One was that lots of parable products at the time, um, the branding on the side
Vicki Weinberg:of the bowl, which really identified it as a baby product, which meant it
Vicki Weinberg:had a limited sort of, not shelf life, but use if you want, because bigger
Vicki Weinberg:kids and adults didn't want to be using a beautiful wooden bowl with,
Vicki Weinberg:um, like a baby brand logo on the side.
Vicki Weinberg:So I put the branding for mine on the bottom of the bowl so it wasn't visible.
Vicki Weinberg:So from the outside it was just a gorgeous smooth bamboo bowl.
Vicki Weinberg:And I also read the, once the baby got to, lots of reviews about, oh,
Vicki Weinberg:once my baby got to this age the bowl wasn't quite big enough to fit
Vicki Weinberg:their meal in and I had to upgrade.
Vicki Weinberg:Now I obviously wanted my product to be able to be used for as long as possible,
Vicki Weinberg:so I made the bowl slightly bigger.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, so that, you know, a parent could buy this and know they could,
Vicki Weinberg:you know, give it some longevity.
Vicki Weinberg:Basically, that's what all of my products were about.
Vicki Weinberg:But whether I got the inspiration for both of those features because
Vicki Weinberg:they were features, was from reading the reviews of other products and
Vicki Weinberg:seeing what people liked and disliked.
Vicki Weinberg:So my fourth idea is to use something called the Jungle Scout Sales estimator.
Vicki Weinberg:Do not worry if you've never heard of this.
Vicki Weinberg:And this is actually another way you can use Amazon.
Vicki Weinberg:So there is a company called Jungle Scout and they have a free tool
Vicki Weinberg:that helps you to estimate how many sales per month a product is making
Vicki Weinberg:based on their best seller ranking.
Vicki Weinberg:Don't worry if this just sounds like nonsense.
Vicki Weinberg:If you don't, got a clue what I'm talking about.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, I have a blog post that explains it in more detail, which
Vicki Weinberg:I'll link to in the show notes.
Vicki Weinberg:But basically, um, you look at, um, a product on Amazon, you take a note of
Vicki Weinberg:the bestseller ranking, which is in the information, you go onto this retool,
Vicki Weinberg:you put that in, and it'll estimate how many sales that product's making.
Vicki Weinberg:Obviously this isn't a hundred percent accurate and this
Vicki Weinberg:can't be the only thing you do.
Vicki Weinberg:But in my opinion, it's a useful additional check you can
Vicki Weinberg:carry out alongside your other research just to get an idea.
Vicki Weinberg:I wouldn't just do this for one product, by the way.
Vicki Weinberg:So if you're doing, you know, if you're looking at products online, you're
Vicki Weinberg:looking at Amazon, as I've just suggested, for some of the products you look at.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, You can do this check and just see, just see where, how many roughly
Vicki Weinberg:they're selling and see if that's kind of tallies up to you based on, you
Vicki Weinberg:know, what you've learned about the products and what people think about it.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, I just think it's something that's really worth doing.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, Jungle Scout also have paid for software, which I use, but
Vicki Weinberg:I will say at this stage, I don't suggest investing in this.
Vicki Weinberg:I don't think it's worth it.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, this free tool, as I say, while it isn't a hundred percent
Vicki Weinberg:accurate, it's pretty good.
Vicki Weinberg:And obviously it is only looking at sales made on Amazon, which obviously
Vicki Weinberg:might not be what you have in mind.
Vicki Weinberg:However, Amazon is a huge marketplace.
Vicki Weinberg:There are lots of customers and lots of products can and do sell well there,
Vicki Weinberg:so I think it'll at least give you an indication of whether it's something that
Vicki Weinberg:people are buying, even if you intend to sell on your own website or set on Etsy
Vicki Weinberg:or somewhere completely else entirely.
Vicki Weinberg:And as I mentioned, I do have a free guide that talks about
Vicki Weinberg:more about how to do this.
Vicki Weinberg:I'll also put the link to the tool in the show notes for this episode.
Vicki Weinberg:Uh, it probably is quite self explanatory, but as I say, if not,
Vicki Weinberg:I have details on how to do it.
Vicki Weinberg:I should also mention at this point that if you are interested in selling
Vicki Weinberg:your product on Amazon, I do offer a, should I sell my products on Amazon?
Vicki Weinberg:mini strategy session where I do a lot of the research I've just mentioned for you.
Vicki Weinberg:So this isn't for when you're at the idea stage, this is when you actually
Vicki Weinberg:have a product, you know, your product's ready perhaps, or at least in production.
Vicki Weinberg:So you know, you know a bit more about what your product is.
Vicki Weinberg:And I look at competitors for you and I basically come back
Vicki Weinberg:and say either yes, I think this would be great to sell on Amazon.
Vicki Weinberg:And I, um, talk about how to niche it.
Vicki Weinberg:So what sort of category to list in, how to make yours slightly different
Vicki Weinberg:from other listings on Amazon.
Vicki Weinberg:Or I'll be really honest and come back and say, well actually do you know what?
Vicki Weinberg:I think based on whatever the reasons are, um, this might not be the best place for
Vicki Weinberg:you to sell your product at this time.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, because as I mentioned before, Amazon can be a really hard place to get
Vicki Weinberg:started and it can take a lot of time, potentially a lot of money if you're
Vicki Weinberg:paying somebody to help you with it.
Vicki Weinberg:And I think that it's really good to know before you start whether you know,
Vicki Weinberg:whether there's any opportunity there.
Vicki Weinberg:And I'll be really honest because I know that for me, if I was to be launching my
Vicki Weinberg:brand of baby products, which I launched originally, I want to say about 7, 6,
Vicki Weinberg:7 years ago now, if I was looking to launch them today, I don't think I would
Vicki Weinberg:sell them on Amazon because I think that category is absolutely saturated.
Vicki Weinberg:At the time it was, it was really good.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, but now I think there's probably too much competition
Vicki Weinberg:and it just wouldn't work out.
Vicki Weinberg:And I think that's the kind of thing that is really useful to know
Vicki Weinberg:before you start, before you start.
Vicki Weinberg:Because there will be, you know, there will be somewhere, um, there
Vicki Weinberg:will be somewhere that you can, you can sell it and you can do really
Vicki Weinberg:well, but not every sales channel is going to be right for everyone.
Vicki Weinberg:So again, I put link to that in the show notes now on the subject of Amazon.
Vicki Weinberg:My fifth suggestion, you can do also while you're on Amazon if you want
Vicki Weinberg:to, which is to buy other products.
Vicki Weinberg:With the aim of returning them as part of your research, so, I suggest, the
Vicki Weinberg:reason I suggest you do this on Amazon, by the way, is there a returns process
Vicki Weinberg:is really easy, although you might not, you know, you might not want to do this.
Vicki Weinberg:You might want to go into shops instead or, or buy somewhere else.
Vicki Weinberg:I like to say I like doing this on Amazon because if I've just been doing
Vicki Weinberg:some online research and I've been researching products and looking at
Vicki Weinberg:their features and everything, I like to suggest a couple, um, buy them.
Vicki Weinberg:Get them sent to me at home with the intention of returning them.
Vicki Weinberg:By the way, this is the bit that makes it free, so I like to buy them, get
Vicki Weinberg:them sent to me, and then when they arrive, um, have a real in depth look
Vicki Weinberg:at them to help with the research.
Vicki Weinberg:So, for example, I would always take photos of them because I think
Vicki Weinberg:that was really useful and I'd make some really detailed notes.
Vicki Weinberg:So I would look at things like the packaging.
Vicki Weinberg:So how is the product packaged?
Vicki Weinberg:Is it in a box?
Vicki Weinberg:Is it in a bag?
Vicki Weinberg:Is it in a, does it have a belly band?
Vicki Weinberg:Is there an insert card or a flyer included?
Vicki Weinberg:More information.
Vicki Weinberg:What's actually included on the packaging.
Vicki Weinberg:I will say this was really helpful when I was designing my first product,
Vicki Weinberg:um, because I knew the packaging was going to be a box and I was like,
Vicki Weinberg:but what do I even put on a box?
Vicki Weinberg:So I ordered some other similar products.
Vicki Weinberg:So, so baby muslins on Amazon.
Vicki Weinberg:And I looked at the boxes and I look what kind of thing they had on them.
Vicki Weinberg:And I saw, okay, they've all got a brand name, they've all got a
Vicki Weinberg:barcode, they've all got washing instructions, um, all of this.
Vicki Weinberg:And that really helped me because I didn't have a clue what to put on my packaging.
Vicki Weinberg:So I found that really useful.
Vicki Weinberg:You could also look at the materials used for the product.
Vicki Weinberg:So if it's paper based, is this dirty?
Vicki Weinberg:Is it flimsy?
Vicki Weinberg:Can you work out what sort of paper stock it is?
Vicki Weinberg:If it's fabric, do you know what type of fabric?
Vicki Weinberg:I would also look at the quality of the finish, um, and also
Vicki Weinberg:things like how it feels to you.
Vicki Weinberg:So does it feel like a premium product?
Vicki Weinberg:Does it feel like a more budget version?
Vicki Weinberg:And does it match up to the price you paid and your expectations?
Vicki Weinberg:So if these are products that you've been reading about on Amazon, you've
Vicki Weinberg:been reading all of these reviews, you know, does that match up with
Vicki Weinberg:the product you've actually received?
Vicki Weinberg:Hopefully disclose without saying, but I'm going to say it anyway.
Vicki Weinberg:I am not suggesting for one moment that you copy anyone, that you copy any
Vicki Weinberg:products, that you copy anyone's ideas.
Vicki Weinberg:Please, please, please don't do that.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, the reason for doing this is just to see what else is out there so that
Vicki Weinberg:you can make your product unique and you can make it as good as it can be.
Vicki Weinberg:So, for example, let's use the muslin example.
Vicki Weinberg:And let's say you were looking to develop a new muslin and you'd been
Vicki Weinberg:reading lots of reviews about some, and everyone says it's too thin.
Vicki Weinberg:Well, what does too thin mean?
Vicki Weinberg:You order them, you take a look and you can, you know, you can see for yourself.
Vicki Weinberg:When?
Vicki Weinberg:When people say it's too thin, this is what too thin looks like, so mine needs
Vicki Weinberg:to be different, or something's too small.
Vicki Weinberg:Okay, What does too small mean?
Vicki Weinberg:You know, you order it, you take a look and go, okay, so
Vicki Weinberg:everyone thinks this is too small.
Vicki Weinberg:Mine's going to be bigger.
Vicki Weinberg:And yet, of course you can do that without seeing the product in real life.
Vicki Weinberg:But I just think that if you can, that really helps you because this is just
Vicki Weinberg:about making your product be as unique and as good as it possibly, possibly can be.
Vicki Weinberg:That's the purpose.
Vicki Weinberg:So you create great product that your customers are looking for
Vicki Weinberg:and that they're happy to pay for.
Vicki Weinberg:So I really hope these ideas have helped you.
Vicki Weinberg:I have one final thing I want to mention.
Vicki Weinberg:That's something I wish you might want to look into.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, if you've looking to validate your idea, it's crowdfunding.
Vicki Weinberg:I know it's not quite the same as validation, but I also
Vicki Weinberg:notice that is something that's, if you were interested in.
Vicki Weinberg:I also know this is a lot of work.
Vicki Weinberg:I know it may or may not be right for you, but if you're interested in
Vicki Weinberg:finding out more about crowdfunding, I suggest listening to episode a
Vicki Weinberg:103 with Jess Bailey, which is links in the show notes list episode.
Vicki Weinberg:And in the meantime, if you want even more free ways to validate your
Vicki Weinberg:product ideas, you can download the free guide that I mentioned earlier.
Vicki Weinberg:So as always, thank you so much for listening.
Vicki Weinberg:Thank you so much for listening all the way to the end.
Vicki Weinberg:If you have any questions at all, you can always contact me
Vicki Weinberg:Vicki at vickiweinberg.com, and have a lovely rest of your week.
Vicki Weinberg:Thank you so much for listening right to the end of this episode.
Vicki Weinberg:Do remember that you can get the full back catalogues and lots of free resources
Vicki Weinberg:on my website, vickiweinberg.com.
Vicki Weinberg:Please do remember to rate and review this episode if you've enjoyed it,
Vicki Weinberg:and also share it with a friend who you think might find it useful.