Don’t Make this Common Customer Validation Mistake
Your audience says they're interested, but will they act? Learn practical customer validation techniques to test your value proposition and gain meaningful commitment.
Customer Validation: How to Avoid Getting Led Astray
So, you've done your homework. Through copy testing to ensure your message is being understood and careful customer discovery interviews (as discussed in our guide on how to identify customer needs and wants), you've gained valuable insights into your target audience's pains, priorities, and the language they use.
You think you understand their core unmet needs.
Now comes the crucial next step: customer validation.
It's time to move beyond simply understanding the problem and start testing whether your proposed solution truly resonates – enough for potential customers to take meaningful action.
Simply hearing "that sounds interesting" isn't enough. True validation comes from commitment.
Customer validation is the process of testing your core assumptions about your product or service with real potential users to see if they perceive value and are willing to commit time, effort, or money. It’s about finding evidence that you're building something people will actually use or buy.
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Why Asking for Commitment is Key to Useful Customer Validation
Politeness can often mask indifference. The most reliable way to gauge genuine interest and validate your value proposition is to ask for a specific, tangible commitment. This transforms the conversation from theoretical exploration into a real-world test.
Actions Speak Louder: A willingness to sign up, pay a deposit, agree to a pilot, or even just book a detailed follow-up meeting provides much stronger evidence of interest than verbal affirmation alone.
Uncovers Objections: The commitment ask often brings hidden concerns or questions to the surface, providing invaluable feedback for refining your offering or messaging.
Focuses Feedback: It forces both you and the potential customer to consider the practical value exchange.
During your validation conversations, aim to dedicate a significant portion (around 25-50%, adjusting based on your confidence) to testing your solution and seeking commitment.
You might need to have dozens of conversations to “really get it.” This process ultimately turns you into an expert on your target audience, understanding what makes them tick and how they make decisions.
Make Validation A Part of Your Discovery Process
While asking for commitment might feel daunting, it's essential for gauging genuine interest and understanding if your value proposition truly resonates.
Integrating validation directly after discovery within the same conversation is often most effective. Why? You can apply the context about needs you just established, provides immediate feedback while the conversation is fresh, and respects the customer's time by potentially avoiding the need for a separate follow-up meeting you might not secure. This is your chance to test if the perceived needs translate into a willingness to act and to qualify whether there is a genuine fit before spending more time on low-fit customers.
Successfully securing even small commitments significantly strengthens the evidence supporting your understanding of their needs and the appeal of your proposed solution. Remember, actions provide clearer signals than words alone.
Priority Questions for Effective Customer Validation
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Tip
The following questions provide a framework, but make them your own. Reword them, combine them, or change the order so they feel natural within your conversational style and suit your specific audience. Authenticity matters more than sticking rigidly to a script. This takes practice, but genuine interactions yield better insights.
Question 1: The Meaningful Call to Action (CTA)
Ask for Commitment
Present the CTA: Describe a concrete next step relevant to your stage (e.g., "sign up for the beta," "schedule a full demo," "join the waitlist with a small deposit," "agree to be a development partner," "pre-order now").
Gauge Willingness:"Based on what we've discussed, on a scale of 1 to 5, where 5 is 'definitely yes,' how interested are you in [Your Meaningful CTA]?"
Based on how they answer your willingness question above, you can go in two different directions, both of which explore understanding “the why”:
(ii) If Their Score is High (5):
Advance the Sales Process. Treat this as a strong positive signal. Discuss the specifics of the CTA and schedule the concrete next action before concluding the conversation. This immediate follow-through is crucial to build on momentum.
Improvement Opportunities: “I know you rated this a 5/5, what would it take to get this to a superlative 10/5 to exceed your expectations?” This is an additional test to overcome “politeness” and identify things that they believe are truly necessary to move forward.
Differentiators:"What do you think you can get from this you can’t get anywhere else?”
(iii) If Their Score is Moderate or Low (1-4) or if any hesitation is expressed:
You might be surprised that I rated a 4 as moderate. This is because we need to consider the likely politeness bias I mentioned earlier. I assume that any score lower than a 5 indicates a solution that does not clearly resonate. You want to find solutions that generate immediate interest and action; you have too little resources to waste on mediocre solutions.
Dig deeper to understand the barriers. Ask clarifying questions like: "What would need to be true for you to rate that a 5? What’s your biggest friction point?”
The goal here is to uncover specific obstacles (e.g., price, missing features, timing, trust, complexity) that you need to address in your offering or pitch.
If the primary CTA isn't met with strong enthusiasm, or after addressing concerns, you can gauge interest in lower-commitment actions to keep the conversation going and gather more data.
Test for Advocacy/Network Effects:"Is there anyone else in your network or industry you think might find this valuable?" If they offer names, ask if they'd be comfortable making an introduction (a smaller, but still valuable, commitment). Understanding who they think would benefit also subtly validates their perception of your value.
Offer Information:"Would you like me to keep you updated on our progress via email?" Adding genuinely interested contacts to a targeted mailing list helps nurture potential leads and allows you to learn from future engagement.
Question 3: Ask for Feedback on Your Process
This helps you improve your customer discovery and validation skills.
Question Example:"Thanks for your time today. Was this conversation helpful? Is there anything I could have done differently to make it more valuable for you?"
More Customer Validation Questions
These questions provide further layers of validation and help build relationships. These are good to ask especially if you’re sensing alignment that they’re your target niche — these help you find more people like them.
Question 4: Understand Your Market Category
How do they mentally categorize your solution? Who do they see as competitors?
Question Example:"If you were explaining this to a colleague, how would you describe it? Who would you compare us to?"
Question 5: Sources of Learning
Understanding where your audience looks for information helps you understand their influences and how they discover solutions.
Question Example:
"When you're looking for ways to improve [priority area], where do you typically turn for information or advice?
Any specific websites, publications, communities, or experts you follow?"
Summary: Customer Validation Questions
Testing commitment
Question Example
Share a meaningful call to action (CTA)
From 1-5 (high), what’s your interest in [Meaningful CTA]?
Commitment What do you hate most about [meaningful commitment]? What would take you to a 5/5 or 10/5? What most resonates that you can’t get elsewhere?
Other CTAs
Who else do you think would get value from our solution? Get name / contact info immediately if possible. Would you like to be kept up to date? I can add you to a regular mailing list and stay in touch about what I learn.
Skill feedback
What would you recommend that I change for next time? What most resonated from our conversation?
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[Optional] Additional Questions (time permitting)
Marketplace Category
How would they describe your solution to a colleague? Who (or what workaround) do they see as your natural competitors?
Channels
Where would you expect to find or hear about a solution like this? (e.g., specific websites, communities, events, influencers)
Customer Validation Drives Smarter Decisions
Customer validation, especially through seeking commitment, moves your idea from hypothesis to reality. It provides concrete evidence of whether you're on the right track.
Don't shy away from asking for the next step – the answers, whether "yes" or "no," are invaluable data points that guide your product development, refine your value proposition, and ultimately increase your chances of building something customers will not only understand but also embrace and pay for.
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This is part of a series about creating and validating your positioning and messaging systematically (Hit Toggle)
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