How to Test Your Market on a Shoestring Budget

Planning to launch a new small business or a new product for your existing company? Making sure that your business idea works before you fully launch it can help prevent wasting your money and resources. The best thing is that you can take advantage of a baseline testing program even with a shoestring budget.

Big companies spend thousands or even millions of dollars testing their products or business models prior to rolling them to the market. Small business owners and webpreneurs like us do not have that kind of budget and resources.

But if you’re a smart woman entrepreneur, there are certain steps you can perform to enjoy the benefits of a market testing minus the huge costs.

Create a solid marketing page

This is a crucial first step to take before you make a dramatic launch of your new business or new products and/or services. Start with your marketing page by writing a persuasive sales copy for your landing page. 

The sales page should highlight the benefits of using your business or buying the product or attending your event. 

Use online launching platforms

To determine the potential success of your business idea, use online launching platforms like LaunchRock, Kickofflabs or Unbounce. 

These free (paid options are also available) services can easily help you create and publish your web page (online sales page) and find out whether there is a good demand for your business idea through notification requests and pre-orders.

Fine-tune your business idea

Develop your minimum viable product (MVP) for market testing and see if you’re on the right track. Spend more time and energy on improving and fine-tuning it to suit the needs of your ideal customers. Your product should offer real benefits that make your customers’ lives easier or a lot better.

Benchmark the outcomes

Keep track of the results of your testing and measure them against your expectations. Set clear criteria that will show you whether you’ll be profiting from your business or just wasting your financial investments. 

Look for market signs and see if you are really gaining traction among your target consumers.

Make a final decision

Be ready to either modify your product or abandon the whole idea and look for better, more potentially profitable business ideas. Ask for feedback from potential customers and experts. Once you have all the data you need, it’s time to make the final decision.

Have experienced launching a new business or product that became successful? What specific steps did you take to ensure best return on your investment? Want to share them?